“The New Shapes of Identity Threats 2026.” While 76% of organizations report having technical controls designed to verify human presence, only 48% consider these controls reliable. 52% cannot fully verify that biometric data was captured live, exposing a gaping hole in liveness detection technology that is supposed to be table stakes for IDV. Synthetic data remains largely hidden, and only 50% can trace identity decisions end-to-end. In practice, systems built to verify people increasingly encounter activity that behaves like a user, submits identity evidence like a user, and moves through digital journeys like a user — without necessarily involving a real person.