Managing Non-Human Identities for Stronger Security

In modern systems, most accounts you manage are not human at all. API clients, service identities, machine accounts, IoT devices—they operate without faces, but they hold keys to your infrastructure.

Non-human identities user management is no longer a side concern. These identities authenticate, authorize, and act within your systems just like people, and sometimes with more privileges. A breach here is often faster, harder to detect, and more damaging than in human accounts.

The first step is knowing what exists. Inventory every non-human identity. Map each one to its purpose and to the systems it can access. Remove dormant or unused accounts immediately. Every forgotten credential is a standing invitation to attackers.

Centralize policy enforcement. Non-human identities should follow the same security rules as humans: least privilege, enforced rotation of credentials, strong authentication methods. Replace long-lived static secrets with short-lived tokens. Automate revocation when roles or services change.

Track usage patterns. Log every authentication, every API call, every permission change. Compare current behavior against baseline profiles to flag anomalies. Fast, automated detection lets you shut down suspicious activity before it spreads.

Segment access. A machine account for data ingestion should not be able to write to production databases. A CI/CD pipeline identity should not access sensitive customer data. Define access scopes tightly and review them regularly.

Integrate lifecycle management. Create non-human identities with defined expiration dates. Rotate keys on schedule. Archive or delete the account when its job is complete. Zero trust means no one—human or machine—gets to keep access forever.

Effective non-human identities management reduces attack surface and prevents lateral movement inside your systems. It locks the doors you cannot see. It gives security teams clear visibility into all actors, human or otherwise.

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