In cybersecurity and identity management](https://www.oasis.security/resources/blog/non-human-identity-management, an application refers to a software system or service that performs automated tasks, processes data, or interacts with other systems—often without human intervention. Within the context of Non-Human Identity (NHI) security, applications are more than user-facing tools; they frequently act as autonomous digital actors in a distributed environment, authenticating and operating through credentials like API keys, service account](https://www.oasis.security/resources/blog/what-are-service-accounts-and-how-should-you-secure-thems, OAuth tokens](https://www.oasis.security/glossary/oauth-2-0, or certificates.
Applications are integral to modern infrastructure, especially in cloud-native and DevOps environments](https://www.oasis.security/resources/blog/cisco-breach-non-human-identities-nhi-compromise-and-implications-for-devops-security. However, as non-human entities, they often operate with persistent access and elevated privileges](https://www.oasis.security/glossary/pam. This makes them a prime target for attackers and a frequent source of security risk. Poorly managed application identities](https://www.oasis.security/non-human-identity-management-glossary-identity-tyeps-oasis-security can lead to issues such as credential sprawl](https://www.oasis.security/glossary/secret-sprawl, privilege escalation, and lateral movement across systems—especially when secrets are hardcoded or permissions are misconfigured](https://www.oasis.security/glossary/overprivileged.
For example, a CI/CD pipeline tool may use a service account to deploy containers to a Kubernetes cluster, or a cloud-based application might authenticate to a data warehouse using an API key. These interactions are powered by machine credentials](https://www.oasis.security/glossary/machine-identity that must be secured, rotated, and monitored. When left unmanaged, these application identities often persist beyond their intended lifecycle](https://www.oasis.security/glossary/lifecycle-management, retain excessive access, or remain invisible to traditional IAM controls](https://www.oasis.security/glossary/iam.
Applications are one of the most common forms of NHIs. Each instance of a workload, automation script, or microservice](https://www.oasis.security/glossary/workload-identity may possess its own identity, governed by cloud IAM policies](https://www.oasis.security/glossary/ciem or local configurations. Securing these application identities is essential to enforcing least privilege](https://www.oasis.security/glossary/rbac-role-based-access, maintaining compliance](https://www.oasis.security/glossary/pci-4-0, and upholding Zero Trust principles](https://www.oasis.security/glossary/conditional-access across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
