What are Non-Human Identities

Non-Human Identities (also known as Machine Identities or workloads) refer to any digital entity within an IT environment that is not a human user but requires an identity and access rights to interact with applications, systems, data, and other services. As organizations embrace automation, cloud computing, and advanced AI, the number and complexity of these non-human identities are growing exponentially, often far outnumbering human users.

These identities are essential for the functioning of modern digital infrastructure and typically perform automated tasks, communicate between systems, or facilitate operations. However, they often carry significant privileges and, if compromised, can pose a massive security risk.

Common types of Non-Human Identities

• Applications: Software programs that need to authenticate to databases, other applications, or APIs.

• Services Accounts: Accounts used by background services or daemon processes to run applications or access network resources.

• APIs (Application Programming Interfaces): Endpoints that allow different software components to communicate, often requiring specific keys or tokens for access.

• Microservices: Individual, independently deployable services that communicate with each other in distributed architectures, each potentially requiring its own identity.

• Bots and Automation Scripts: Automated programs that perform repetitive tasks, gather data, or interact with systems (e.g., chatbots, web scrapers, unattended robots).

• Cloud Workloads/Resources: Identities assigned to cloud instances (e.g., AWS EC2 instances, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine), serverless functions (Lambda, Azure Functions), and containers that need to access other cloud services.

• IoT (Internet of Things) Devices: Connected devices that communicate with central platforms or other devices, often requiring authentication.

• Agent AI: Autonomous AI programs that perceive, reason, and take action to achieve goals, requiring access to various tools and data sources.

• SSH Keys and Certificates: Used for secure communication and authentication between servers, applications, and devices.

The Critical Importance of Securing Non-Human Identities

Historically, cybersecurity focused primarily on human users. However, with the explosion of automation and cloud adoption, non-human identities have become the new frontier for attackers. They often have broad, persistent access, are rarely audited, and are typically managed inconsistently, making them prime targets for compromise and lateral movement within a network.

Here's why managing and securing Non-Human Identities is indispensable for modern organizations:

• Vast and Expanding Attack Surface: Non-human identities often outnumber human users by orders of magnitude, and each represents a potential entry point for attackers if not properly secured.

• High Privilege Levels: Many non-human identities, especially service accounts or cloud workloads, require elevated permissions to function, making them extremely valuable targets for adversaries seeking privileged access.

• Stealthy & Persistent Threats: Compromised non-human identities can operate undetected for extended periods, as their behavior is often less scrutinized than human activity.

• Lack of Centralized Management: Traditional Identity and Access Management (IAM) and Privileged Access Management (PAM) systems were often built with human users in mind, leading to fragmented or absent management for non-human identities.

• Compliance Requirements: Regulations often apply to all forms of access, not just human access. Managing non-human identities helps meet audit requirements for Least Privilege Access and accountability.

• Foundation of Zero Trust: In a Zero Trust Access model, every identity, human or non-human, is continuously verified. Securing non-human identities is crucial to implementing "never trust, always verify" across automated systems.

• Risk of "Privilege Creep" and "Shadow IT": Without proper governance, non-human identities can accumulate excessive permissions over time, or "shadow" identities can be created outside of official management processes.

• Automation of Attacks: If a non-human identity is compromised, it can be used to automate attacks at machine speed and scale, far beyond what a human attacker could achieve.

ReShield specializes in comprehensive Machine Identity Management, providing robust solutions for discovering, securing, managing, and governing all non-human identities across your complex, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. Empower your organization to fully embrace automation and Agent AI while maintaining an uncompromised security posture by securing every digital identity, human or non-human.