Marta Dern
Product Marketing
Published on
September 10, 2024
As financial services embrace digital transformation, securing Non-Human Identities—like service accounts, APIs, bots, and machine-learning processes—has become a significant cybersecurity priority. NHIs, which facilitate automated operations, have grown exponentially as AI use increases, outnumbering human identities and creating new security risks that traditional Identity and Access Management systems designed for human users are not equipped to handle.
NHIs play a fundamental role in technologies like blockchain and open banking, as well as managing secure access and data integrity across increasingly decentralized environments. However, their management is often neglected, resulting in misconfigurations, unrotated secrets, and overprivileged access. These gaps are especially concerning for financial institutions, which handle sensitive data and face an elevated risk of breaches. Notable incidents involving Microsoft AI and Cloudflare have underscored how compromised NHIs can lead to significant security breaches.
To address these challenges, financial institutions need a comprehensive Non-Human Identity Management strategy that complements existing identity governance systems. This strategy must provide visibility into all NHIs across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments, automate their lifecycle management, and enforce security controls like automated secret rotation and least privilege access.
For financial institutions, adopting a robust NHIM framework is essential. It's not just about compliance—it’s a strategic imperative for sustaining business operations in an interconnected world. NHIs represent a new perimeter that requires specialized management tools beyond traditional solutions. Investing in these tools is not an option, but a necessity to protect against evolving threats and maintain trust in a dynamic digital landscape.
