Breaking Down Non-Human Identity Security: 5 Critical Challenges in 2025

We don’t even know how many NHIs we have

If we revoke a credential, we might break something critical.

We know we need to clean up our service accounts before implementing AI.

If these concerns sound familiar, your organization isn’t alone. Non-Human Identities (NHIs) are now one of the biggest security blind spots in modern enterprises. Yet, most organizations still lack visibility, governance, and control over them.

So where do you start? Break it down.

Start with the most pressing identity security challenge in your organization. Based on real conversations with security teams across industries, these are the five most critical NHI security priorities for 2025 and where leading teams are already taking action.

(New to NHIs? Read our introductory guide to Non-Human Identities to learn more.)

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NHIs in Cloud and SaaS Environments

The visibility challenge

Many organizations struggle to even identify how many NHIs exist in their cloud and SaaS environments. Unlike human identities, NHIs are frequently created on-demand, often without any centralized tracking. Developers generate API keys for integrations, cloud services spin up service accounts automatically, and automation scripts authenticate to databases all creating identities that security teams may never know exist.

We don’t know what NHIs are doing, where they connect, or what happens if we revoke credentials.

Strategic Approach:

1. Automate discovery and context: Leverage security tools that can scan on-prem, cloud environments, and SaaS applications to identify NHIs, their consumers, resources and secrets.
2. Map access permissions: Ensure that NHIs are assigned only the minimum permissions needed.
3. Enforce lifecycle management: Assign owners, expiration dates, and regular access reviews.

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NHIs in DevOps and Automation Pipelines

Balancing between security and efficiency

DevOps teams rely on NHIs to keep CI/CD pipelines running smoothly, allowing automated tools to build, test, and deploy applications. However, security often takes a back seat to speed, resulting in hardcoded credentials, untracked service accounts, and excessive permissions.

We don’t have a clear process for tracking which service accounts are actually being used. Developers create them, automation scripts rely on them, and then they’re forgotten—until something breaks.

Strategic Approach:

1. Implement secrets management: Use secure vaults and automated rotation policies for API keys and credentials.
2. Limit access scope: Ensure that NHIs used in DevOps workflows have only the permissions needed for their specific function.
3. Track NHI usage: Regularly audit service accounts and remove unused or stale NHIs.

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NHIs in AI, Machine Learning, and Automation Systems

Emerging risks in an AI-driven world

With AI and machine learning adoption accelerating, a new class of NHIs is emerging. AI-driven applications, automation bots, and decision-making algorithms all require machine identities to interact with data sources, services, and APIs. The problem? Many organizations are deploying AI without a security model for its identities.

We need to clean up NHIs before rolling out AI and automation. We can’t afford to carry legacy security risks into these environments.

Strategic Approach:

1. Treat AI-driven NHIs as first-class security concerns: Apply the same governance and security controls as with human identities.
2. Require expiration policies: Ensure that NHIs used for AI applications are deactivated when no longer needed.
3. Apply Zero Trust principles: AI systems should authenticate and validate every access request dynamically

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NHIs in Legacy On-Prem Environments

Bridging the gap between old and new security models

Despite cloud adoption, many enterprises still rely on legacy systems that weren’t built with modern identity governance in mind. NHIs in on-prem environments often include hardcoded service accounts, outdated authentication mechanisms, and unknown dependencies.

We have service accounts that have existed for five years, and no one knows if they’re still in use.

Strategic Approach:

1. Identify and document NHIs in legacy environments: Conduct an audit of all non-human accounts and their access levels.
2. Modernize authentication: Where possible, migrate NHIs to more secure authentication mechanisms like OAuth and federated identity.
3. Integrate with IAM tools: Ensure that legacy NHIs are included in identity governance policies alongside cloud and SaaS identities.

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NHIs in Third-Party Integrations and Supply Chains

The hidden attack vector

Many organizations rely on third-party vendors, SaaS applications, and external APIs to operate efficiently. Each of these external services introduces NHIs into the organization’s security perimeter. Without proper oversight, third-party NHIs can become an easy entry point for attackers.

We interact with a lot of third parties who generate NHIs on our behalf, and sometimes that’s where issues arise.

Strategic Approach:

1. Require vendor security assessments: Ensure that third-party NHIs follow strong security practices.
2. Monitor API access logs: Track which NHIs are connecting to third-party services and whether their usage is appropriate.
3. Enforce least privilege for external integrations: Restrict NHIs to only the permissions necessary for their function.

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How Oasis Security Helps Security Teams Take Control of NHIs

At Oasis Security, we believe that rapid innovation and strong security should go hand in hand. Our mission is to redefine identity security for modern, distributed infrastructures by enabling policy-driven governance without imposing rigid centralization.

Purposed-built specifically to manage and secure Non-Human Identities across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. By leveraging AI-driven analytics, we provide

• Full visibility, discovery and context into NHIs, from creation to decommissioning.
• Automated risk assessment to detect security gaps in real-time.
• Policy-driven lifecycle management to enforce governance at scale.

With Oasis, security, identity, and engineering teams can collaborate seamlessly, ensuring that cloud adoption and digital transformation remain secure from day one.

Our platform enables enterprises to:

• Discover and inventory NHIs automatically
• Enforce governance and ownership policies
• Apply least privilege and credential rotation
• Detect risks and misconfigurations in real time
• Ensure compliance with evolving security regulations

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NHIs are not just an IT issue, they are a growing security priority. Organizations that fail to act now risk compliance failures, security breaches, and operational disruptions.

Oasis Security provides the automation, intelligence, and governance needed to manage NHIs before they become your biggest security liability. Let’s talk about how Oasis can help you secure NHIs today.

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