Glossary / Non-human identity management

Non-human identity management

Updated: August 27, 2025

In modern digital ecosystems, not everything that needs credentials is an actual person. Applications, services, bots, IoT devices, and AI agents all have their own “logins,” and they work quietly in the background with permissions that can match or exceed those of human users.

These are non-human identities (NHIs), and they carry significant risk if left unmanaged. This guide will walk you through what they are, why they matter, and how to keep them in check in 2025.

What is non-human identity management?

Credentials don’t always come with faces. Sometimes they hide in code, machines, or automated workflows.

Non-human identity management (NHIM) governs the credentials, permissions, and lifecycles of machine-operated accounts. Think API keys, service accounts, OAuth tokens, and IoT certificates. These credentials often power critical processes that allow software, hardware, and AI systems to interact securely. Without structured management, these invisible actors can become dangerous blind spots.

Related reading: What is Identity Orchestration? Discover how orchestration extends to both human and non-human identities.

Why NHIM matters

Imagine an invisible army with access, one that no one really knows about. That’s the danger of unmanaged non-human identities.

In today’s infrastructure, NHIs often outnumber human users by huge margins; in some organizations, the ratio can be 50-to-1. They operate continuously, across cloud environments, APIs, and automation pipelines, often without the same oversight given to human accounts. If an attacker compromises a single machine identity, they can move laterally, escalate privileges, and gain deep, sustained access.

Without NHIM, these accounts are easily overlooked in audits and often missed entirely in breach investigations.

See also: How Strata Secures AI Agents, which is relevant for NHIs because AI agents are non-human identities.

Key components of NHIM

A strong NHIM program spans the entire lifecycle of non-human identities. This starts with discovery, which finds every credential across clouds, code repositories, containers, and IoT endpoints.

Once discovered, each identity needs an assigned owner, proper classification, and clear boundaries of use. From there, secure storage, automated rotation, real-time monitoring, and eventual clean decommissioning ensure credentials can’t be silently abused.

Finally, ongoing compliance and governance keep the process aligned with both security policies and regulatory mandates.

The six key phases of NHIM include:

Discovery and inventory: Hunt down all machine identities hiding across vaults, code, cloud platforms, and pipelines.
Classification and ownership: Attach context and a designated owner to each identity—no one-off tokens with no accountability.
Secure storage and rotation: Vault credentials centrally and rotate them automatically to thwart theft and reduce impact.
Posture monitoring and detection: Continuously scan and alert when access patterns drift or deviate.
Provisioning and decommissioning: Automate setup and clean decommissioning to avoid stale, unused identities lingering.
Compliance and governance: Log, audit, and enforce policies tailored to machines, not just people.

Scenario	Without NHIM	With NHIM
Credential Visibility	Machine accounts, tokens, and API keys remain hidden or forgotten.	All identities are discovered, inventoried, and tracked.
Access Control	Overly broad or misconfigured permissions often go unnoticed.	Least privilege enforced, permissions tied to owners.
Secret Management	Passwords and keys are hard-coded or stored in plain text.	Credentials are vaulted, rotated, and secured automatically.
Lifecycle	Orphaned or stale identities linger long after use.	Identities are provisioned and decommissioned cleanly.
Monitoring	Unusual activity may go undetected for weeks.	Continuous monitoring and alerts for suspicious behavior.
Compliance	Gaps in audits; non-human accounts often missed.	Policies and audits extend to both human and machine identities.

Best practices for NHIM

The best NHIM strategies focus on visibility, control, and hygiene. Automate discovery to catch every credential, including those embedded in legacy systems or generated by automation pipelines. Assign a responsible human owner to each identity, so accountability is always clear. Store and rotate credentials securely, enforce least privilege, monitor for unusual behavior, and immediately decommission unused or orphaned identities.

Quick NHIM best practice checklist:

Automate discovery across all environments.
Assign a human owner to every identity.
Rotate secrets frequently and store them securely.
Enforce least privilege to limit access scope.
Monitor usage and alert on anomalies.
Automate decommissioning to avoid stale credentials.

In short, guard their keys, know who owns them, and kick them out when they’re done. That’s how you keep the bots honest.

Connecting to AI agent security

As AI agents proliferate in enterprise environments, they generate new machine identities at scale, each requiring the same security rigor as traditional NHIs. Without controls, these agent identities can be exploited just like any other credential.

Applying NHIM principles to AI agents keeps them operating within strict boundaries, ensures they only access approved resources, and allows them to be revoked instantly if compromised.

Deep dive: Securing AI Agents with Maverics . See how identity orchestration closes the gaps for non-human identities in AI-driven environments.