Application

What is an application?

In cybersecurity and identity management, an application refers to a software system or service that performs automated tasks, processes data, or interacts with other systems—often without human intervention. Within the context of Non-Human Identity (NHI) security, applications are more than user-facing tools; they frequently act as autonomous digital actors in a distributed environment, authenticating and operating through credentials like API keys, service account, OAuth tokens, or certificates.

Why is it important?

Applications are integral to modern infrastructure, especially in cloud-native and DevOps environments. However, as non-human entities, they often operate with persistent access and elevated privileges](https://www.oasis.security/glossary/pam. This makes them a prime target for attackers and a frequent source of security risk. Poorly managed application identities can lead to issues such as credential sprawl, privilege escalation, and lateral movement across systems—especially when secrets are hardcoded or permissions are misconfigured.

What are common applications or use cases?

For example, a CI/CD pipeline tool may use a service account to deploy containers to a Kubernetes cluster, or a cloud-based application might authenticate to a data warehouse using an API key. These interactions are powered by machine credentials that must be secured, rotated, and monitored. When left unmanaged, these application identities often persist beyond their intended lifecycle, retain excessive access, or remain invisible to traditional IAM controls.

What is the connection to NHIs (Non-Human Identities)?

Applications are one of the most common forms of NHIs. Each instance of a workload, automation script, or microservice may possess its own identity, governed by cloud IAM policies or local configurations. Securing these application identities is essential to enforcing least privilege, maintaining compliance, and upholding Zero Trust principles across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.