As organizations lean more on non-human identities (NHIs)–the digital credentials that allow devices, applications, and automated systems to operate independently–securing them has become a critical priority. NHIs are made up of machine identities, service accounts, API models and more. Although they drive machine-to-machine communication and automated processes, they also create new security challenges that many companies struggle to manage.
Only 15% of organizations feel highly confident in their ability to prevent attacks targeting NHIs, while 69% express concerns about these risks. This awareness highlights a serious gap: while many companies recognize the importance of NHI security, they often lack the tools and strategies to protect against NHI-related threats.
This article explores what NHIs are, why they matter, and how organizations can better secure them. It covers the unique challenges in NHI management and outlines practical steps to address them so your organization can confidently mitigate risks and meet regulatory requirements.
What Are Non-Human Identities?
A non-human identity is a digital ID that automated systems—like devices, software, or services—use to communicate securely without human input.
For example, when a cloud app automatically backs up your files to a storage service, a non-human identity lets the two systems recognize each other and complete the task without any human intervention. These identities are essential for machine-to-machine communication, ensuring that only the right systems can interact.
Some common examples include service accounts, system accounts, and application accounts used by devices, virtual machines, and cloud-based services. In platforms like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), non-human identities help control access, reduce security risks, and support automated processes.
What is Non-Human Identity Security?
Non-human identity security–or machine identity management–is an important yet often overlooked component of modern business operations, especially as companies increasingly rely on machines and automated processes. With the growing number of devices, software, and machines that can carry out tasks automatically, many organizations have more non-human identities than humans. Veza’s State of Access Report for 2024 recognized 17 non-human identities for every one human identity.
But managing NHIs isn’t just about keeping things running smoothly—it’s also a critical part of identity security. Every non-human identity acts like a digital fingerprint assigned to a specific device or program to prove who it is and what it can do. These identities are essential for securing machine-to-machine communication by ensuring only authorized systems can interact. Without proper management, these systems can become vulnerable to unauthorized access or attacks from bad actors. Unfortunately, legacy IGA and IAM have traditionally been designed to secure identities held within an organization’s HR system. Given NHIs are not associated with human resources, they have historically been overlooked and are now considered the largest and fastest-growing part of the identity attack surface.
How does non-human identity security work?
Non-human identity security works by:
- Giving machines their own digital identities, like badges that prove who they are.
- Authenticating those identities to make sure they’re legitimate.
- Authorizing what machines can do based on their role.
- Monitoring machine activity to catch anything suspicious or unnecessary.
- Adjusting permissions to limit access where possible, reduce risk and stay compliant.
Just as humans need usernames and passwords, machines need their own identities to prove who they are and what they’re authorized to do. Typically part of an organization’s broader access governance strategy, NHI security ensures that these digital identities operate with appropriate permissions and that their access remains tightly controlled.
The process of securing NHIs starts with giving each machine or application a unique identity, often managed through service accounts or system accounts. These identities act like digital badges, allowing systems to recognize each other and decide whether they should interact.
Authentication plays an important role here: verifying that each machine is truly who it claims to be. After authentication comes authorization. Once a machine’s identity is confirmed, it’s time to determine what actions it’s allowed to take. Some machines may have permission only to view specific data, while others may have broader control to make changes or run essential processes. By assigning only the necessary permissions and adhering to the principle of least privilege, you can reduce the risk of vulnerabilities that attackers or malware could exploit.
An essential part of non-human identity security is keeping these permissions current. Over time, machines can accumulate access they no longer need, leading to privilege creep and potential security risks.
Monitoring what machines are doing with their identities is equally critical. Non-human identities can be compromised by attackers and leveraged to access sensitive data or move laterally across an organization. If a machine’s activity seems suspicious–such as attempting to access data it shouldn’t–the action should be flagged and blocked, and an administrator should be alerted.
Non-Human Identity Security Risks and Challenges
Managing non-human identities can introduce challenges and risks. Without the right tools and processes, businesses may struggle to keep track, opening the door to potential security threats.
1. Lack of visibility, monitoring, and governance
NHIs can be difficult to identify because they often appear similar to human accounts, with naming conventions that don’t always set them apart. Many organizations know the location of some NHIs, but there are often blind spots, especially with identities created before standardized processes existed. Tracking down the human owners responsible for these identities can also be challenging, even though NHIs frequently have high privilege levels tied to critical applications. Traditional identity management and governance tools typically struggle to identify and track non-human identities; these legacy systems were designed for the on-prem era and are tailored to human identity management, often making them blind to NHI security. Organizations using these legacy systems are likely to encounter significant blindspots around their NHIs. Any lapse in authentication or authorization could pose a serious security risk.
2. Risk of compromised credentials
While tools like secrets managers can rotate credentials for some NHIs, many credentials fall outside these tools–unmonitored or outdated. Credentials that haven’t been updated in years can become a liability, creating vulnerabilities and exposing your business to potential breaches or compliance issues.
3. Increased high-risk attack surfaces
The more non-human identities you have, the larger your attack surface becomes. NHIs often operate through service accounts or have privileged access to critical systems, making them prime targets for attackers. Today, many NHIs are created using human accounts, which can blur the lines between machine and human identity management. To properly secure these identities, you may need to track them back to their human origin, which can be complex and time-consuming.
4. High volume of non-human identities within organizations
With the rise of cloud services, machine-to-machine communication, and SaaS sprawl, the number of non-human identities has exploded. However, the high volume of these identities creates a significant management challenge. Furthermore, via methods like Oauth, automated processes can often use the same accounts as human users, meaning human and non-human identities can blend together.
To find and secure all NHIs, you need to be able to identify their human owners, which can make visibility even more difficult. Ultimately, this volume increases the risk of oversight, allowing vulnerabilities to slip through unnoticed.
5. Potential for lateral movement within networks
If an attacker gains access to an NHI with excessive privileges, they can use that identity to move laterally through your network to access critical systems. Lateral movement is even easier if authorization for NHIs hasn’t been carefully managed. By exploiting over-permissive NHIs, attackers can extend their reach far beyond the initial breach.
6. Over-permissiveness
NHIs often accumulate excessive access as permissions are added over time without regular reviews. Automated processes and users may request broad access to simplify tasks, which can lead to unnecessary privileges. As these permissions stack, they increase the risk of unauthorized access and create vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit.
7. Inadequate, manual lifecycle management
While human identities undergo structured processes like user access reviews and are often required to adhere to bolstered authentication methods like multi-factor authentication (MFA), non-human identities often lack similar oversight. Unlike personal IDs, which IT or identity teams typically manage, NHIs are often created by software developers who may not have a deep understanding of security. Without consistent review or monitoring, these identities can accumulate unchecked access privileges, creating security gaps that attackers can exploit. When people lack visibility into who or what has access to critical digital resources, NHIs become just as vulnerable to compromise as human identities.
8. Gaps in traditional security
Traditional security tools like secrets managers, Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) tools, and Privileged Access Management (PAM) systems were built for simpler, on-premises environments—and struggle with the complexity of NHIs.
While secrets managers help secure known identities, many NHIs remain unmanaged outside these tools. IGA systems rely on static role definitions that often miss the true scope of permissions in dynamic cloud and hybrid environments, and PAM tools lack visibility into most NHIs and their permissions.
Without the ability to ingest and analyze detailed authorization data across all systems, these tools leave security gaps.
9. Increasingly higher requirements for encryption
As data privacy laws evolve and regulatory requirements become more stringent, organizations face higher demands for encryption, especially for non-human identities. With sensitive machine-to-machine interactions and service accounts handling critical operations, encryption is crucial for protecting these communications. However, many companies struggle to meet these standards due to outdated encryption practices or inconsistent implementation across their systems.
Best Practices for Non-Human Identity Security
Securing NHIs means managing access with precision and making sure each identity has only the permission it needs. Here are some best practices to help you secure NHIs, reduce risks, and improve control.
Find and label non-human accounts
Identify NHIs across your systems, including service accounts, service principles, and managed accounts. Many NHIs resemble human accounts, making them easy to overlook. Use search and filtering tools to detect accounts that fit NHI patterns, like the lack of multi-factor authentication (MFA) or specific naming conventions.
Once identified, label these accounts as NHIs and sync these labels across all systems, including configuration management databases (CMDBs), for consistent tracking. An AI-driven tool can assist by scanning accounts in real time, flagging possible NHIs, and organizing them for better oversight.
Analyze permissions for least privilege
To reduce security risks, limit each NHI’s access to only what’s necessary. Start by creating a permissions inventory for each NHI, detailing what actions it can perform across applications, databases, and other systems. Compare these permissions with the NHI’s actual tasks–such as reading data, executing scripts, or managing backups–and remove any unnecessary access.
AI-powered identity security tools can support this by constantly checking permissions and automatically flagging excess access to enforce the principle of least privilege across all NHIs.
Assign human owners
Assign a responsible human owner for each NHI, ideally someone familiar with its role and purpose in the organization. This owner will be accountable for tasks like rotating credentials, performing regular access reviews, and checking if the NHI is still needed. AI identity security solutions can help by suggesting suitable owners based on NHI usage patterns and activity to keep governance organized and reduce potential oversight.
Make sure to tag NHIs with the assigned owner’s details and, where possible, import this information from asset management systems, spreadsheets, or CMDBs.
Ensure key rotation
Regularly rotate credentials for NHIs to prevent unused or expired keys from creating security gaps. First, inventory all credentials linked to NHIs, identifying any that haven’t been rotated or used recently. Then, set up a schedule to regularly replace or update these keys and link each credential to a specific NHI, tracking the last rotation dates to identify those needing attention.
Automated NHI security tools can handle this process on a fixed schedule, alerting you to any keys that may pose risks due to age or inactivity.
Monitor and audit activity in real time
Set up continuous monitoring to track NHI activity and detect any unusual behavior. Real-time alerts for actions outside the expected usage–such as access attempts to restricted areas or permissions outside its regular scope–allow quick responses to potential threats. AI-driven identity security platforms can make this easier by providing real-time alerts and usage reports to highlight deviations from typical behavior.
Owners should periodically audit each NHI’s activity to make sure it aligns with its assigned tasks and that no unnecessary permissions have accumulated.
Conduct regular access reviews
Conduct scheduled access reviews for NHIs to confirm that each identity’s permissions remain relevant and aren’t overly broad. Assign reviews to NHI owners, who can assess whether the identity’s access aligns with its current needs. When permissions are no longer required, revoke them to limit exposure.
Automated tools can initiate these reviews on a recurring basis, present owners with up-to-date permissions data, and streamline the review process.
Create new NHIs to fit application needs
When creating NHIs, tailor permissions to the identity’s specific tasks within the application or system. Begin by defining the identity’s required actions, then assign only those permissions necessary to perform these functions.
Role templates and recommendations can help standardize this process by avoiding over-permissioning from the start. Avoid granting “admin-level” permissions unless absolutely necessary, as broad access increases the risk profile. AI-driven NHI security solutions can analyze similar roles and recommend permissions that fit the identity’s purpose, establishing new NHIs with the right level of access from the outset.
Automate Your Non-Human Identity Security
Non-human identities are an integral part of the digital landscape, powering essential systems and processes across every organization. However, their rapid growth also presents a new frontier in cybersecurity–one that demands focused attention and proactive strategies.
Fortunately, Veza’s AI-powered Access Platform is designed to tackle these challenges head-on. By automatically discovering NHIs across cloud, on-prem, and SaaS environments, Veza brings visibility to even the most elusive identities, aligning them with security and compliance policies. It helps identify “shadow NHIs” that might have gone unnoticed, syncing labels with external sources like CMDBs and assigning human owners to make governance straightforward. This reduces blind spots and centralizes NHI management, turning potential security risks into manageable assets.
Beyond discovery, Veza helps enforce least privilege by analyzing NHI permissions across your infrastructure, right-sizing access, and removing unnecessary permissions that could increase your attack surface. With lifecycle management tools like automated key rotation, access reviews, and human ownership certification, Veza ensures NHIs don’t accumulate excessive privileges or become vulnerable due to outdated credentials. By automating these critical processes, Veza enables your team to keep NHIs secure and compliant without adding operational complexity.
Learn more about how to make NHIs a manageable, secure part of your organization’s strategy.
