Non-Human Identities Recall

In complex systems, identity is currency. When non-human identities—service accounts, automation agents, API tokens—go rogue or drift beyond their intended scope, they become attack vectors. Recall is the act of tracking, auditing, and removing these identities before they compromise the system.

Non-Human Identities Recall starts with visibility. A complete inventory of every active and dormant machine identity is required. This includes secrets stored in repositories, embedded credentials in CI/CD pipelines, and outdated tokens still holding permissions. Each identity must be identified, contextualized, and linked to its origin.

The next step is verification. Every non-human identity should have a defined owner, lifecycle policy, and least-privilege permissions. If the origin is unknown or the permissions have expanded beyond need, it enters the recall list immediately.

Automation is critical. Manual recall is too slow for distributed systems with hundreds or thousands of machine identities. Event-driven scans can detect new identities, cross-check them against policy, and trigger instant revocation. The recall process should integrate with deploy workflows to prevent reintroduction after removal.

Security policy must cover the full recall cycle: discovery, validation, revocation, and post-removal monitoring. Patch gaps in IAM configuration, enforce rotation schedules, and replace static long-lived credentials with short-lived tokens tied to verified jobs.

Non-Human Identities Recall is not a one-time event. It is continuous, embedded in every build and deployment. Systems that neglect recall become opaque, leaving blind spots attackers can exploit.

If you want to see automated Non-Human Identities Recall in action, connect your workflows to hoop.dev and watch it deploy live in minutes.