Non-Human Identities (NHIs)

What Are Non-Human Identities?

Non-Human Identities (or machine identities) are digital credentials assigned to applications, services, scripts, and devices—not people. They’re how workloads talk to databases, how cloud functions spin up resources, how APIs exchange data. No humans in the loop. Just machines doing their job—fast, automated, and at scale.

That scale is the problem.

Why NHIs deserve attention

Every automated task relies on an identity. But unlike human users, NHIs aren’t subject to routine logins, reviews, or offboarding. They don’t raise red flags when over-permissioned. They don’t get second-guessed when secrets go stale.

And attackers know it.

NHIs have become one of the fastest-growing attack surfaces in modern IT—often unmonitored, overtrusted, and invisible to traditional IAM tools. Without the right controls, they’re a quiet path to privilege escalation, lateral movement, and data exposure.

Where can you find NHIs?

You’ll find NHIs everywhere:

Service accounts powering background jobs
APIs and microservices connecting cloud-native apps
CI/CD pipelines deploying infrastructure on command
IoT and edge devices performing autonomous tasks
Scripts and bots managing daily operations

And with the rise of cloud and DevOps, they’re multiplying fast.

The risk isn’t just scale—it’s silence

NHIs don’t raise their hands. They don’t ask for help. They keep working, even when no one’s watching.

That’s where the risk comes in:

Excessive permissions that grant far more access than needed
Hardcoded secrets that never expire
Forgotten identities that stay active long after their job is done
Limited oversight that leaves gaps in audits, alerts, and controls

And once compromised, they move laterally—quietly—until it’s too late.

Securing NHIs starts with identity intelligence

You can’t secure what you can’t see. That’s why NHI protection starts with visibility—and ends with control.

The most effective strategies include:

Principle of least privilege — Give each NHI only what it needs to do its job
Short-lived credentials — Use ephemeral tokens, certificates, and keys
Automated provisioning and deprovisioning — Don’t leave identities lingering
Behavioral monitoring — Detect and respond to anomalies in real time
Centralized oversight — Govern NHIs alongside human identities in IAM or CIEM

Security without identity context is guesswork. And NHIs are no exception. Read the two blogs referenced below to get a lot more detail on how to secure NHIs.

Finally, Non-Human Identities aren’t the future. They’re already here—and growing. They power your workflows, scale your infrastructure, and keep your systems running. But unmanaged, they also widen your attack surface.

If it has access, it needs protection.

If it moves data, it needs controls.

If it’s trusted, it must be verified.

NHIs aren’t a niche issue. They’re a core identity challenge—and a critical part of securing modern environments.

More NHI Resources:

Blogs

How to Manage and Protect Non-human Identities

Best Practices for Managing Machine Identities

eBook

Secure Machine Identities with Confidence

Video

How to Secure Machine Identities in an AI Environment