Identity Lifecycle Debt.

Identity Lifecycle Debt is the technical-debt equivalent for non-human identity. Every AI agent, service account, or workload identity deployed without an owner, an expiry, and a revocation path is one more entry on the balance sheet. Unlike technical debt in code, this debt is directly quantifiable: it is a count of identities times their scope. And unlike most technical debt, it shows up in the breach report, the insurance renewal, and the audit finding. Naming it as debt is deliberate: it changes the conversation from a security discussion to a finance discussion, and it puts the number in front of the CFO. What is the debt on our books? What is the interest? How fast are we paying it down?

The Arkion Discovery Scan produces a debt figure at first contact: the number of orphaned identities, the number of standing over-scoped credentials, and the number of certificates within thirty days of silent expiry. Each governed identity paid down is a line-item reduction to the debt. Boards and cyber insurance carriers accept the report as evidence of a mitigation program.