In today’s highly regulated digital ecosystems, compliance-critical environments—such as healthcare, finance, and government sectors—face increasing pressure to protect sensitive data while adhering to strict regulatory frameworks. Traditional access control mechanisms, often rigid and static, are inadequate for dynamically changing risk landscapes and evolving threat vectors. This paper proposes a unified framework for Risk-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Identity Management (IDM) that integrates context-aware decision-making, real-time risk assessment, and adaptive policy enforcement to enhance security and compliance. The proposed framework leverages machine learning models and rule-based engines to continuously evaluate risk based on user behavior, environmental factors, and system context. By integrating identity federation, multifactor authentication, and behavioral analytics, the system ensures that access decisions are dynamically tailored to the assessed risk level, significantly reducing unauthorized access incidents and data breaches. A modular architecture is employed, enabling seamless integration with existing identity management infrastructures and regulatory compliance engines, such as GDPR, HIPAA, and SOX. Furthermore, the framework supports granular policy definition and auditing capabilities to meet auditing requirements and ensure transparency in access decisions. To validate the framework, we conducted simulations in a compliance-critical financial environment using synthetic datasets mimicking real-world scenarios. Results demonstrate the framework’s effectiveness in reducing access latency, improving decision accuracy, and enhancing regulatory compliance adherence. Comparative analysis with conventional Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) models highlights the advantages of a risk-aware approach in dynamic environments. The research underscores the importance of aligning identity management with adaptive risk assessment mechanisms, particularly in high-stakes domains where data confidentiality, integrity, and availability are paramount. The proposed unified framework offers a scalable, intelligent, and compliance-ready solution to modern identity and access management challenges, paving the way for more resilient and responsive security architectures in critical sectors.