A Non-Human Identity (NHI) is a digital entity that authenticates and authorizes access on behalf of applications, services, and devices—in other words, it is a construct used for machine-to-machine access and authentication.NHIs are important because they facilitate automated operations, ensure seamless integrations, and support cloud scalability. As the world becomes more connected through APIs, third-party integrations, and microservices—and as digital transformation and AI adoption accelerate—NHIs have grown exponentially, outnumbering human identities by a ratio of 20:1.

NHIs are frequent targets in cyberattacks due to their privileged access and lack of traditional security controls. According to IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024, The global average cost of a data breach increased by 10% within just one year, reaching USD 4.88 million—the largest annual rise since the pandemic.

A robust NHI security strategy requires a multidisciplinary team that includes IAM, cloud, security, IT, DevOps, and application teams. Their mission should be to establish leadership, conduct research, and implement structured NHI management strategies that focus on: Discovery, Automation, Monitoring, and Enforcement.

By centralizing oversight and leveraging automation, organizations can ensure NHIs remain secure, compliant, and manageable at scale.

Zero Trust assumes nothing and verifies everything—including NHIs. Managing NHIs ensures every machine or service identity is authenticated, authorized, and continuously monitored. NHIs are a key pillar in a Zero Trust model because they’re often the first targets in lateral movement attacks.