Managing non-human identities (NHIs) has become a paramount challenge for security teams. These identities, ranging from automated scripts and service accounts to IoT devices and third-party integrations, present a unique and often overlooked attack vector that can compromise an organization’s entire security structure.

Let’s delve into why NHIs are such a critical challenge and how enterprises can effectively mitigate their associated risks.

Why are NHIs so Hard to Manage?

Challenge #1: NHIs Have High Access Privileges

NHIs possess extremely high access privileges that grant them nearly unrestricted access to sensitive data within an environment. This level of access not only makes NHIs highly valuable targets but also significantly increases the potential impact of a successful attack. Compounding the issue, many of these access rights are often unnecessary or excessive for the NHIs’ role, presenting unnecessary risk to your organization.

Challenge #2: There is No 2FA for NHIs

NHIs cannot be secured with two-factor authentication (2FA), leaving them exposed to exploitation once compromised. Unlike human users whose actions can often be monitored and controlled through authentication and behavioral analytics, NHIs typically authenticate using long-lived tokens or keys.

This makes NHIs prime targets for attackers seeking to gain prolonged, undetected access to sensitive systems and data.

Challenge #3: NHIs are Hard to Track

Cloud environments exacerbate NHI management challenges due to their scale and dynamism. With multiple cloud providers, each employing different authentication mechanisms and lifecycle management practices, maintaining control over NHIs becomes so much harder.

How to Solve These Challenges

The combination of accessibility and obscurity with NHIs underscores the critical need for specialized monitoring and mitigation strategies to effectively protect against NHI-related threats.

But while the challenges of NHI management in cloud environments are substantial, they are not insurmountable. You can significantly enhance your defenses against NHI attacks by adopting a comprehensive approach that integrates:

1. Robust inventorying → Maintain up-to-date records of all NHIs and their associated permissions
2. Proactive monitoring → Deploy monitoring systems capable of identifying suspicious behaviors and unauthorized access attempts by NHIs
3. Adaptive security measures → Implement proactive response tactics that include the full context of the attack

First Things First, Build an Inventory of all the NHIs in Your Environment

The first step in addressing NHI risks is comprehensive inventorying. You must catalog all NHIs across your infrastructure, including those used by third-party services and cloud providers. This visibility is foundational; you cannot secure what you cannot see.

For example, consider a scenario where a developer integrates a third-party SaaS tool with access to critical data repositories like GitHub or Google Drive. If the third-party suffers a breach, the tokens used by NHIs could be compromised, allowing attackers to impersonate these identities and exploit their permissions.

Monitor NHIs at Runtime to Detect Anomalies and Gain Insight into Their Behavior

Traditional security measures designed for human identities are insufficient for NHIs. Monitoring NHIs for anomalies in runtime becomes crucial—detecting unusual access patterns or locations can signal potential compromises. For instance, an access token used by an application to connect to an S3 bucket from an unauthorized location should trigger immediate action, such as token revocation and investigation.

With contextual understanding around your NHIs and their usage/ behavior, you can confidently deprecate unused NHIs and prevent privilege escalations or lateral movement by adjusting permissions based on actual usage patterns. This eliminates risks and ensures both human and non-human identities operate with the least privilege necessary.

Implement Adaptive Response to Attacks

To effectively manage NHI risks, you need a structured approach that spans the entire lifecycle of these identities. This includes implementing controls to minimize the blast radius of compromised NHIs, such as short-lived tokens and least privilege principles.

But no matter what controls are in place, an attacker may still be able to slip through the cracks. That’s why having an established protocol for swift response to suspected compromises, including automated revocation of compromised tokens and incident response procedures, is necessary.