A Non-Human Identity (NHI) is a digital identity assigned to a machine, application, service, script, or automated workflow, enabling it to authenticate and interact securely within IT and cloud environments. Unlike human identities, which are tied to individual users and typically secured through multi-factor authentication (MFA) and user behavior analytics, NHIs operate autonomously—often at scale—using credentials such as API keys, service accounts, certificates, OAuth tokens, or SSH keys.
NHIs are foundational to modern cloud-native architectures, DevOps pipelines, and IoT ecosystems. They facilitate machine-to-machine (M2M) communication across microservices, CI/CD workflows, containers, and edge devices. These identities are typically categorized as workload identities (e.g., Kubernetes service accounts), API identities (e.g., OAuth tokens or API gateways), and device identities (e.g., X.509 certificates for IoT).
NHIs have become indispensable for automation, scalability, and operational efficiency in hybrid and multi-cloud environments. However, their rapid, often unmanaged proliferation has introduced significant security and governance challenges. Research shows NHIs outnumber human identities by up to 20:1 in large enterprises, with over 97% operating with excessive privileges and 44% stored in insecure locations such as code repositories or collaboration platforms.
Due to their static credentials and lack of behavioral oversight, NHIs are increasingly exploited in modern breaches. Attackers target overprivileged or orphaned NHIs to escalate privileges, move laterally across environments, and exfiltrate sensitive data—often without triggering conventional user-based security controls.
In practice, NHIs are used to automate deployment pipelines, access cloud APIs, transfer data between services, and authenticate IoT devices. For example, a CI/CD tool may use a service account (an NHI) to push application code to production or retrieve secrets from a vault. Similarly, an API gateway uses an OAuth token (another form of NHI) to authenticate incoming service requests.
NHIs also enable just-in-time infrastructure provisioning in Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) environments and support secure data exchange in machine learning workflows. In healthcare, NHIs authenticate medical devices transmitting patient data to cloud platforms; in finance, they manage automated trading algorithms communicating with banking APIs.
Yes. Industry frameworks such as NIST SP 800-204, PCI DSS v4.0, and GDPR Article 32 now include requirements related to automated system identities, encryption of machine credentials, and auditability of non-human interactions. The rise of Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) has further emphasized the need for continuous verification and minimal access rights—not just for people, but for every machine identity.
Trends indicate that attacks involving NHIs are increasing sharply, with 66% of recent cloud breaches attributed to compromised non-human credentials. Consequently, forward-looking enterprises are adopting AI-driven NHI Detection and Response (NHIDR), rotating credentials every few hours using short-lived certificates, and implementing cryptographic agility in preparation for post-quantum threats.
As enterprises scale automation and cloud adoption, NHIs represent both a critical enabler and a growing risk vector. Securing NHIs is not merely a technical necessity—it is a strategic imperative. Organizations must move beyond human-centric IAM models and adopt purpose-built solutions that provide lifecycle visibility, enforce least privilege, and detect anomalous NHI behavior in real time.
Well-governed NHIs reduce the attack surface, support compliance mandates, and enable secure, scalable automation. They are central to modern cybersecurity architecture and must be treated as first-class citizens in any enterprise identity strategy.
