Understanding the Rise of Non-Human Identities in Enterprise Networks
With the increasing complexity of modern enterprise networks, the reliance on a myriad of applications and infrastructure services has never been more pronounced. The smooth operation of these systems hinges on secure interactions, often facilitated by non-human identities (NHIs). This category encompasses various elements like application secrets, API keys, service accounts, and OAuth tokens. Their proliferation is driven by the rapidly expanding ecosystem of applications and services that must seamlessly identify and communicate with one another. In many organizations, NHIs now outnumber human identities by ratios as high as 50-to-1.
The Growing Risk Landscape for NHIs
While NHIs offer essential functionalities, they also introduce specific security risks that keep leaders in the field on high alert. A recent report from the Enterprise Strategy Group highlights that 46% of organizations have reported compromises of NHI accounts or credentials within the past year, with an additional 26% uncertain about potential breaches. This unsettling trend raises significant concerns regarding the oversight, governance, and risk assessment of these identities.
The Surge of Non-Human Identities
The sharp increase in NHIs can largely be attributed to the burgeoning use of cloud services, artificial intelligence, automation, and digital workflows. As tasks become more automated, the role of human input decreases, thereby advancing the necessity for NHIs. These identities facilitate authentication between applications, whether within a specific domain or in collaboration with third-party cloud services. The sensitive nature of NHIs means that, if compromised, they can grant attackers formidable access to critical applications and services.
Industry experts, such as Mark Sutton, CISO of Bain Capital, emphasize that once organizations solidify their protocols for human identity security, the natural progression is to fortify non-human identities. Sutton remarks, “Non-human identities have become a focus for teams based on the maturity of their identity and access management programs.”
Identifying the Risks of Secret Leakage
Like traditional credentials, NHIs require robust protection. Unlike human identities, NHIs often rely on less stringent authentication methods, thus making them susceptible to attacks. The leakage of NHI secrets poses a significant threat, manifesting in various forms such as hard-coding secrets in application source code or accidentally sharing them in public documents. Notably, a report from security firm GitGuardian revealed over 27 million new secrets existing in publicly accessible repositories last year. This durability of a leaked secret can prove particularly risky, given that NHIs often remain with static permissions for extended periods.
Furthermore, NHIs frequently require broad permissions to execute tasks, leading to an accumulation of excessive privileges. This dynamic increases the potential attack surface, making NHIs attractive targets for cybercriminals.
Challenges Faced by CISOs in Securing NHIs
As organizations become increasingly aware of the risks posed by NHIs, actualizing secure practices remains a prominent challenge for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs). Here are three primary hurdles they face:
1. Lack of Visibility
One of the biggest challenges in securing NHIs is simply identifying them within an organization. Many companies harbor thousands of NHIs, some of which may be unknown to their security teams. The principle of needing awareness before securing assets is particularly applicable here. Implementing an identity security posture management solution can help reveal the hidden NHIs lurking within enterprise environments.
2. Risk Prioritization
Not all NHIs carry the same level of risk. Prioritizing these risks is crucial for effective management. For instance, certain service accounts may possess permissions far beyond what is necessary for their functions. CISOs must focus on identifying high-value NHIs and adjusting their privileges to mitigate risk. “It’s about understanding the blast radius associated with each non-human identity and asking ‘what’s the risk?'” Sutton adds.
3. Establishing Governance Protocols
With the rapid proliferation of NHIs, governance becomes a significant concern. Poor governance can lead to severe consequences, such as the breaches tied to unrotated tokens with the Internet Archive in October 2024. Often, NHIs emerge from developers fulfilling immediate needs but remain untracked post-creation. Establishing transparent processes for NHI creation, management, and proper decommissioning can assist organizations in combating potential risks. Sutton highlights the necessity of robust authentication and password policies, noting that many service accounts still operate with weak and outdated passwords.
Managing Non-Human Identities in Today’s Environment
Non-human identities play a vital role in the automated processes and integrations that underpin modern enterprise operations. However, their security is complex, often becoming a point of vulnerability due to static credentials, lack of multifactor authentication (MFA), and excessive privileges.
To actively address these challenges, organizations need to adopt a comprehensive approach that encompasses both human and non-human identities. By recognizing NHIs as crucial but nuanced components of their security landscape, organizations can move toward more effective management strategies.
Join our webcast on August 18th to delve deeper into how organizations can minimize risk and streamline complexity by managing all identities—human or non-human—under one cohesive system.
