Let’s cut to the chase: every enterprise has those applications. Legacy, homegrown, shadow, inherited through M&A—call them what you will. They’re in production. Still in use. And, they’re often critical to the business.
But they’re not on the roadmap.
They’re not in the connector library.
And they’re definitely not in your audit reports—because half the time, no one even knows they exist.
These apps are often called “disconnected apps”, systems where identity lives outside your core Identity and Access Management (IAM) system and beyond the reach of your Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) platform. These could be homegrown apps built by devs, shadow IT adopted by fast-moving business units, or left-behind legacy apps in tech debt limbo. These apps manage their own access, define their own roles, and may operate with little to no oversight.
And that’s a problem.
Because you can’t govern what you can’t see.
Disconnected apps still need to comply—SOX / PCI DSS / ISO / DORA. But, without visibility, there’s no accountability. And without accountability, there’s risk.
The Compliance Risk That’s Hiding in Plain Sight
Disconnected apps aren’t theoretical. They’re everywhere.
We’re talking about:
- Custom apps where identity and access management never made it to AD, Okta, Ping or some other IAM platform – let alone the IGA platform.
- Long-forgotten line-of-business applications or tools hosted in a private AWS instance.
- SaaS and other shadow applications that were adopted by marketing or product teams without IT involvement (Asana, I am looking at you).
- Legacy tools with limited vendor support and zero API access – think “old school” green screen applications used by Finance, Manufacturing, or Operations.
These apps don’t integrate easily, especially with legacy IGA solutions. So they’re ignored. But ignoring them doesn’t make them go away. In fact, it’s where many control risks and audit failures begin.
Every disconnected app introduces three critical risks:
- Unmonitored Access Creep – Admins added manually. Privileges granted ad hoc. No lifecycle of access. No offboarding. The result? Residual access remains everywhere, and all kinds of sensitive data may be exposed.
- Orphaned Accounts – Users leave, accounts and access stay. Sometimes for years.
- Non-Human Identity Sprawl – Tokens, service accounts, and API keys with privileged access and no oversight.
Governance blind spots are the fastest path to a public headline.
Because when access goes unmanaged, it goes unmonitored, and that’s how breaches and ransomware slip in unnoticed, taking trust, reputation, and revenue with them.
It’s Not an IGA Problem – It’s an Access Security Problem
Let’s be fair. Your legacy IGA tools do what they’re supposed to do. Help facilitate business processes, such as access recertifications, JML onboarding and offboarding processes, etc, but they only work for the handful of systems they’ve been integrated with. And, that rarely covers every critical app in your environment.
Moreover, IGA can’t actively manage what it doesn’t connect to.
Even “connected” apps often have ways to bypass governance entirely:
- Direct admin creation in Salesforce
- Shadow users in Snowflake
- Privilege drift in custom-built internal tools
Disconnected apps take that risk and scale it across your entire enterprise, wherever these applications are in use.
This isn’t a failure of your existing identity stack. It’s just the nature of modern IT: heterogeneous, fragmented, not fully federated, and dynamic.
Veza: Bringing Next-Gen Access Governance to Disconnected Apps
This is where Veza comes in.
Using Open Authorization API (OAA), Veza ingests access data, including users, entitlements, resources, and permissions, from disconnected apps – regardless of protocol, platform, or API maturity – and applies the same access governance controls you expect from your core systems:
- Use Veza’s OAA framework to bring disconnected apps and their data into Veza.
- Access Visibility and Access Intelligence – Who has access, what kind, and how they got it.
- Privilege Escalation Monitoring – Changes outside of policy? We’ll flag them.
- Effective Permissions Mapping – Not just roles, but actual resource-level access.
- User Access Reviews (UARs) – Across disconnected apps that were previously invisible to compliance.
- Segregation of Duties (SoD) Violations – Identify toxic combinations before they turn into audit findings or material weaknesses.
And because it’s code-optional and built for speed, Veza helps teams onboard dozens of disconnected apps in weeks, not quarters.
No connectors. No custom integration work. No professional services retainer.
Shift Left on Governance: Bringing Engineering to IGA
Disconnected apps aren’t going away. And, with AI agents, microservices, and cloud-native development accelerating and requiring their own control and governance measures, consistent governance across applications, irrespective of type and provenance, must become proactive and pervasive.
With Veza, you can:
- Automate UARs across legacy, enterprise, on-premises, and cloud-native systems
- Visualize permissions and drift in near real-time
- Enforce governance policy across non-human identities
- Identify segregation of duties (SoD) violations early, before they become findings or material weaknesses
- Report on entitlements – down to the resource level – for disconnected apps
It’s not just about checking audit boxes. It’s about building a security posture that reflects reality, not just what’s in your connector list.
For CISOs and IAM Leads: This Is Identity Maturity
Security leaders are under pressure to prove coverage. Not just for the systems you integrated last year—but for the ones the business adopted yesterday.
Disconnected apps can’t remain blind spots.
With Veza, you extend identity governance to every system, every user, every access pathway—without rebuilding your stack or adding complexity.
This isn’t about disruption.
It’s about augmentation.
It’s about making your existing tools go further.
And it’s about reclaiming control, without compromising speed.
Get Started with Veza Access Security and Access Governance for Disconnected Apps
Whether you’re running SailPoint, Saviynt, or a homegrown identity stack, Veza helps you shine light into the dark corners of your enterprise IT.
- See all permissions across disconnected apps
- Run real-time access reviews
- Reduce audit fatigue
- Strengthen your identity security posture
Don’t let disconnected apps become your weakest link.
Let Veza turn them into your next win.
What’s Next
If you’re still relying on traditional IGA tools that lack comprehensive visibility, it’s time to explore more effective strategies.
Deepen Your Understanding
- A Practical Guide to Avoiding the Pitfalls of IGA
This guide offers insights into common challenges with legacy IGA systems and how to overcome them for better security and compliance. - Intelligent Access: Strategies for Achieving Least Privilege in the Modern Enterprise
Discover how to implement least privilege access effectively in today’s complex IT environments.
Learn from Industry Experts
- State of Access Report 2024
Gain a comprehensive overview of current access management trends and benchmarks to inform your strategy. - Identity is the New Battleground Webinar
Hear from industry leaders on the evolving challenges in identity security and how to address them.
Take Action
- Schedule a Demo
Ready to transform your identity governance approach? See how Veza can provide the visibility and control you need.
