Security breaches are becoming more expensive and harder to detect. While phishing and ransomware dominate headlines, attackers are increasingly targeting the overlooked layer of your environment: non-human identities (NHIs).
Non-human identities outnumber human identities 45 to 1 in cloud systems. These include API keys, service accounts, bots, containers, and automation tools. Unlike human users, NHIs don’t log in with passwords or set off alerts. This makes them ideal targets for attackers seeking long-term access to your systems.
What Are Non-Human Identities?
Non-human identities are any system, service, or process that interacts with your infrastructure without being a human user. Think of APIs, scripts, CI/CD tools, containers, or cloud services. NHIs are everywhere—and their numbers grow as your environment scales.
A CI/CD pipeline using a service account to deploy applications is an NHI. A container fetching secrets from a cloud vault is another. These identities operate silently in the background and often carry broad permissions—many of which go unnoticed and unmanaged.
The problem isn’t that NHIs exist. It’s that they’re hard to track, easy to forget, and usually over-permissioned. That’s where the danger lies.
Human identities log in. Non-human identities don’t. NHIs use keys, tokens, and automation to move through systems without human input.
5 Common Types of Non-Human Identities
1. API Keys
API keys connect services, such as a chatbot pulling data from a CRM. If an API key is leaked or never rotated, it becomes a major risk.
2. Cloud Services
AWS, Azure, and GCP use NHIs to run services. These cloud-managed identities access storage, networking, and compute resources. If left unchecked, they become entry points.
3. Containers and Images
Containers run apps but often assume IAM roles to access sensitive data. A misconfigured container can be a gateway to databases, secrets, or other assets.
4. DevOps Tools
DevOps relies on automation—and automation relies on NHIs. Tools like Terraform or Jenkins need cloud access, but many are set up with excessive permissions.
5. Service Accounts
Service accounts are used for backups, sync tools, or schedulers. They often run indefinitely with full access, and if breached, they grant attackers full entry.
4 Major Risks of Non-Human Identities
1. Excessive Permissions
Most non-human identities have excessive permissions. A bot that only needs read access might also have delete or write rights. Over-permissioning is common—and dangerous.
Mitigation: Enforce the principle of least privilege. Give NHIs only the permissions they need, nothing more. Review permissions regularly.
2. Lack of Visibility
NHIs are frequently created and forgotten. Shadow NHIs—identities no one tracks or manages—become backdoors for attackers.
Mitigation: Maintain an inventory of all NHIs. Assign owners, tag resources, and monitor usage. Delete or expire unused credentials.
3. Insecure Credential Management
Hardcoded keys, credentials in Slack, or secrets in config files all introduce massive risks. An exposed key is like handing over a master key to your infrastructure.
Mitigation: Use secret managers like AWS Secrets Manager. Rotate keys, use environment variables, and remove static credentials.
4. Lateral Movement
Once an attacker compromises one NHI, they can pivot to others. From a container, they might access cloud buckets, databases, or internal tools.
Mitigation: Isolate NHIs. Segment networks. Use zero trust and monitor for abnormal behavior.
Real Attacks Involving NHIs
These are not theoretical risks. NHIs have already been used in real breaches:
BeyondTrust (Dec 2024): An unmanaged API key was used to escalate privileges. The identity was not monitored or rotated.
Microsoft AI (Sep 2023): A leaked SAS token exposed 38TB of data in an Azure storage account.
Okta (Late 2023): A service account was used to access customer credentials. Over 5,000 credentials had to be rotated.
These attacks prove that non-human identity risks are real, and the consequences are costly.
How to Stay Secure Against Non-Human Identity Risks
Adopt the Principle of Least Privilege
The principle of least privilege (PoLP) means giving NHIs only the access they need—no more. Avoid “standing” permissions. Instead, use just-in-time (JIT) access: grant temporary permissions only when needed, then revoke them automatically.
This minimizes exposure, reduces lateral movement, and aligns with zero trust—where no identity is trusted by default.
Enforce Zero Trust for NHIs
Zero trust for non-human identities means every request must be verified, permissions should be minimized, and no identity is automatically trusted—human or non-human.
Monitoring, segmentation, and revoking unused credentials are all part of this approach.
Automating Security for NHIs with Apono
Platforms like Apono automate least privilege for both human and non-human identities.
Apono helps by:
Enforcing least privilege automatically across your stack.
Providing just-in-time access so NHIs only get what they need when they need it.
Allowing self-service permissions via Slack, CLI, or Teams.
Expiring access automatically to reduce risk.
With Apono, you can control non-human identities without slowing down development or operations.
Conclusion: Don’t Ignore Your Non-Human Identities
Non-human identities are everywhere. From API keys to containers, they power your infrastructure—but they also carry hidden risks.
When non-human identities have excessive permissions, when they’re untracked, and when credentials go unmanaged, they become silent liabilities. Attackers love them because they’re invisible, over-permissioned, and under-secured.
You must take proactive steps:
Inventory every NHI.
Apply least privilege and just-in-time access.
Monitor activity and rotate credentials.
Use automation platforms like Apono to scale governance without slowing down your teams.
Non-human identity security isn’t optional. It’s essential. Start today before attackers do.
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