Non-Human Identity (NHI)

Non-human identities (NHI) are digital identities used to represent software workloads, robotic process automation (RPA) and other non-human actors within IT environments. They are not limited to machine identities — a common misconception — and include a broader range of identity types that interact with systems, data and applications.

Key Components of Non-Human Identities:

• Machines: Entities that perform actions
  • Workloads – VMs, containers, serverless functions
  • Bots – RPA bots, scripts
  • AI Agents – Autonomous or semi-autonomous digital agents
  • Devices – Physical devices like IoT sensors, smart cars, medical devices
• Accounts: Unique identity representations within specific systems or applications
  • IAM roles, service accounts, system accounts, service principals
• Credentials: Secrets used to authenticate and authorize access:
  • Tokens, certificates, API keys, SSH keys

As enterprises increasingly adopt automation and AI agents, securing non-human identities has become a critical extension of identity security and cloud entitlement management. Non-human identities already outnumber human users, and the gap is widening.  

Without proper oversight, these identities become a major blind spot in the security landscape. Securing NHI is critical to reduce the attack surface, prevent misuse of credentials, and maintain compliance—just as it is for human identities. A unified, governance-driven approach ensures that all identities are visible, controlled, and protected.

To effectively secure non-human identities (NHI), the first and most critical step is to establish comprehensive visibility across your environment. This means identifying all non-human actors along with their associated accounts, credentials, and access relationships.

Beyond basic inventory, it’s essential to gain contextual insights into their access, ownership, and lifecycle events. A timeline-based view that captures key activities—like ownership changes, and permission modifications—paired with risk-level classification, allows security teams to not only understand how these identities operate but also to prioritize remediation efforts.

Starting with visibility ensures a strong basis for governance and continuous compliance across all identity types.