A non-human identity (NHI) is a digital credential assigned to software applications, services, scripts, bots, or devices that authenticate and access resources without direct human involvement. These machine identities power the automation that keeps modern enterprises running – connecting systems, processing data, and executing workflows around the clock.
NHIs now outnumber human identities in most organizations by ratios of 25 to 50:1 or even higher by some accounts, yet they rarely receive the same security attention as employee accounts. Here we cover what NHIs are, the security risks they introduce, and how to protect your organization from NHI compromise.
What is a non-human identity?
A non-human identity (NHI) is a digital credential assigned to software applications, services, scripts, bots, or devices that authenticate and access resources without direct human involvement. Unlike the username and password you use to log into your email, NHIs operate automatically in the background – connecting systems, processing data, and running workflows around the clock.
Every time an application pulls data from a database, a script runs a scheduled backup, or a cloud service communicates with another platform, an NHI handles the authentication. NHIs are the invisible workforce powering modern technology.
Here are a few components of business operations that leverage NHIs for authentication:
- Applications and services: Software programs that connect to databases, APIs, and other systems to perform automated tasks
- Automated scripts: Scheduled jobs and workflows that execute without anyone clicking a button
- Devices and workloads: IoT endpoints, containers, and cloud instances that require credentials to communicate with central systems
What does NHI mean in cybersecurity?
Security teams use this term to distinguish machine credentials from human user accounts, because protecting each identity type, and the tools available to do so, require a fundamentally different approach.
NHI security focuses on managing credentials that automated systems use to authenticate. While your IT team likely has mature processes for onboarding employees and revoking access when someone leaves, the same rigor doesn’t always apply to service accounts or API keys. That gap opens the door to the potential for targeted attacks.
Human identities vs. non-human identities
The differences between human and non-human identities go beyond who – or what – is logging in.
| Aspect | Human identities | Non-human identities |
| Authentication method | Passwords, MFA, biometrics | API keys, tokens, certificates, secrets |
| Lifecycle triggers | Hiring, role changes, termination | Deployment, updates, decommissioning |
| Session behavior | Interactive, irregular patterns | Continuous, predictable, 24/7 |
| Oversight | HR and IT workflows | Often decentralized, developer-managed |
Authentication and security protocols
Humans authenticate interactively. Users may enter a password, respond to an MFA prompt, maybe scan their fingerprint. NHIs rely on programmatic methods like API keys, certificates, and tokens that operate without human prompts. Many security controls assume someone is sitting at a keyboard, which means adaptive authentication that challenges suspicious logins simply doesn’t work for NHIs.
Lifecycle management
When an employee leaves, HR triggers an offboarding process that revokes their access to corporate IT accounts. NHI lifecycles work differently – they’re tied to software deployment, updates, and retirement. However, when projects end or applications get deprecated, the associated NHIs often remain active with their privileges intact.
Machine identities vs. non-human identities
“Machine identity” traditionally refers to cryptographic identities – certificates and keys that identify infrastructure components like servers, containers, and network devices. Non-human identity is the broader category, encompassing machine identities plus service accounts, bots, workload identities, and any other automated entity that authenticates to systems.
If you’re thinking about certificates and PKI, you’re in machine identity territory. If you’re thinking about the service account your payroll application uses to access HR data, that’s squarely in NHI territory – even though both fall under the NHI umbrella.
Types of non-human identities
NHIs appear throughout your environment in various forms, and each type presents distinct management challenges.
Service accounts
Service accounts allow applications and services to run processes and access resources. Your database service account that lets an application query records is an NHI. Service accounts often accumulate over time as teams deploy new applications without decommissioning old ones.
API keys and tokens
API keys are static credentials embedded in code or configurations to authenticate requests between systems. They’re convenient for developers but problematic for security – especially when they end up in public code repositories or configuration files.
OAuth and access tokens
OAuth tokens grant applications delegated access to resources on behalf of users or other services. Unlike static API keys, OAuth tokens typically expire, though misconfigured implementations sometimes issue tokens with excessive lifespans.
Bots and robotic process automation
RPA bots automate repetitive tasks and require credentials to interact with business applications. That bot processing invoices in your finance system authenticates just like a human user would, minus the ability to respond to security challenges.
CI/CD pipeline credentials
Development pipelines use secrets to build, test, and deploy code. Pipeline credentials often have broad access to production environments because restricting them breaks the automation. Attackers know this, which makes pipeline credentials high-value targets.
Cloud workload identities
Containers, serverless functions, and virtual machines running in cloud environments each have associated identities. Cloud providers offer managed identity services (AWS IAM roles, Azure Managed Identities), but organizations still struggle to track what exists and what permissions each identity holds.
IoT and device identities
Connected devices, sensors, and endpoints communicate with central systems using embedded credentials. The challenge here is scale – organizations might have thousands of devices, each with credentials that rarely get rotated.
How non-human identities authenticate
NHIs prove their identity through several mechanisms, none of which involve typing a password or approving a push notification:
- Secrets and credentials: Static passwords, API keys, and connection strings stored in configuration files or secrets managers
- Certificates: X.509 certificates for mutual TLS authentication and code signing
- Tokens: Short-lived access tokens issued by identity providers, often using JSON web token (JWT) format
- Cloud provider roles: Instance profiles and managed identities in AWS, Azure, and GCP that grant permissions based on the workload’s identity
NHIs can’t respond to interactive challenges. They can’t complete MFA, answer security questions, or verify their identity through a secondary channel.
Why non-human identity security matters
NHIs vastly outnumber human identities in most organizations. Every one of those identities represents a potential entry point.
Add to that, NHIs often have elevated privileges. That service account connecting your CRM to your data warehouse probably has read access to customer records. The CI/CD pipeline credentials can deploy code to production. Attackers who compromise NHI credentials gain automated, persistent access that evades user-focused security controls.
While overly broad permissions can sometimes enable direct system abuse, attackers more commonly seek to take advantage of NHIs to stage human-mediated pivots: poisoning collaboration channels, impersonating automated workflows, harvesting internal links or secrets shared by employees, and exploiting the implicit trust placed in internal systems and automation.
Traditional security tools were largely built for humans. They look for suspicious login times, unusual locations, impossible travel. NHIs operate 24/7 from consistent locations with predictable patterns – which means compromised NHIs can more easily fly under the radar. Without strong preventive controls, visibility into credential exposure, and rapid revocation and rotation playbooks, NHIs risk becoming the soft underbelly of otherwise mature security programs.
Security risks of non-human identities
Compromised and exposed credentials
NHI credentials appear in code repositories, configuration files, and breach or malware-exfiltrated data with alarming frequency. Developers accidentally commit API keys to GitHub. Service account passwords end up in malware logs when infected machines exfiltrate browser data and configuration files. SpyCloud’s recaptured data from the darknet reveals widespread exposure of service account credentials and API keys – often alongside the human credentials that get more attention.
Lateral movement and privilege escalation
Once attackers compromise NHI credentials, they move through networks using the identity’s existing access. Because NHIs often have cross-system permissions, a single compromised service account can unlock access to multiple applications and data stores.
Expanded attack surface
Every NHI represents a potential entry point. The sheer volume of NHIs – combined with inconsistent management practices – multiplies organizational exposure, creating hidden threats that will intensify as organizations deploy more automated services.
Supply chain and third-party exposure
NHIs connecting to vendor systems, SaaS applications, and partner APIs create pathways for supply chain attacks. When a third-party integration gets compromised, attackers can sometimes pivot into your environment through the NHI credentials that enable that connection.
Learn more about how you can prevent supply chain attacks stemming from vendor exposures with Supply Chain Threat Protection >
Challenges of non-human identity management
Lack of visibility across environments
NHIs get created by developers, DevOps teams, and automated processes without centralized tracking. Security teams need to be able to answer questions like: How many service accounts exist? What permissions do they have? Who owns them? Who is responsible for decommissioning them when they are no longer needed?
Identity sprawl and volume
Organizations accumulate NHIs rapidly as they adopt cloud services, automation, and microservices architectures, contributing to an identity sprawl that extends well beyond traditional user accounts. Each new application, each new integration, each new pipeline adds to the inventory – often without corresponding governance.
Overprivileged access
Developers sometimes prioritize functionality over least privilege. When a service account needs database access, it’s easier to grant broad permissions than to figure out the minimum required.
Even developers that use a security-first approach to development may leave staging or test keys active after a project concludes, leaving open the door for an attacker to gain a foothold on the network.
Inadequate lifecycle management
NHIs frequently outlive their purpose. Projects end, applications get deprecated, teams reorganize – but the associated service accounts, API keys, and credentials remain active, posing extended risk.
Limited MFA compatibility
Because NHIs can’t complete interactive authentication challenges, they rely on static credentials that lack the protection layers applied to human accounts.
Best practices for non-human identity security
01
Apply least privilege access
Grant NHIs only the minimum permissions required for their specific function, and regularly review access rights.
02
Implement secrets management
Use dedicated secrets management tools rather than hardcoding credentials in code or configuration files.
03
Rotate credentials on schedule
Establish automated rotation policies to limit the window of exposure if credentials get compromised.
04
Establish lifecycle governance
Create formal processes for provisioning, reviewing, and decommissioning NHIs with clear ownership assignment.
05
Enable continuous monitoring
Monitor for NHI exposures that could open the door to compromise, leveraging tools like SpyCloud Endpoint Threat Protection for visibility into NHIs exposed via infostealer malware.
06
Centralize identity visibility
Consolidate NHI inventory across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments into a unified view.
Protecting your organization from NHI compromise
NHIs represent a critical component of identity sprawl – alongside employee, consumer, and third-party identities. The credentials that power your environment appear in breach data and malware logs just like human credentials do.
SpyCloud’s identity threat protection addresses the full spectrum of identity exposures, including monitoring for exposed service account credentials and API keys in recaptured darknet data. When a developer’s infected machine exfiltrates configuration files containing service account passwords, that exposure shows up in criminal marketplaces – and in SpyCloud’s intelligence.
FAQs about non-human identities
A service account that allows a payroll application to access an HR database is a non-human identity. It authenticates automatically without human involvement to perform scheduled data transfers between systems.
Most enterprises have significantly more non-human identities than human users. NHIs often outnumber employees by ratios of 25 to 50:1 or higher due to the abundance of cloud services, automation tools, and microservices architectures.
NHIs can’t complete interactive MFA challenges because they operate without human involvement. Organizations rely on secrets management, certificate-based authentication, and short-lived tokens to secure NHIs instead.
Attackers who compromise NHI credentials gain automated, persistent access to systems and data – often with elevated privileges. Attackers can then move laterally through networks without triggering user-focused security alerts.
Attackers find NHI credentials in public code repositories, configuration files, breach data sold on the darknet, and malware logs that capture secrets from infected developer machines. It’s important for defenders to continuously monitor for NHI compromise to prevent follow-on attacks.