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Non-Human Identity Management (NHI) –
Securely Managing Machine Identities

Protect your connected infrastructure from potential cyber risks through reliable, software- and hardware-supported management of digital machine identities.

Securely Managing and Controlling Machine Identities

Not only people need digital identities. Applications, services, interfaces, bots, devices, and machines now independently access systems and data. As automation increases, so does the number of so-called Non-Human Identities (NHI).

This creates a new challenge for organizations: while user identities can usually be clearly assigned to a person, it is often less transparent for technical identities who is responsible for them, what permissions they have, and whether those permissions are still required.

What Are Non-Human Identities?

Non-Human Identities are digital identities that are not directly used by a person. Examples include:

Service Accounts
Technical User Accounts
Machine and Device Identities
API and Application Identities
Bots and Automated Processes
Workloads and Microservices
Certificates and Technical Credentials

These identities are essential for operating modern enterprise environments. At the same time, uncontrolled or outdated technical access can pose a significant security risk.

Challenges in Practice

The number of non-human identities is growing faster than the number of traditional user accounts in many organizations. Cloud platforms, containers, APIs, and automated processes continuously create new certificates, service accounts, and technical accounts.

Without centralized processes, managing them quickly becomes difficult to oversee. Certificates expire unnoticed, technical accounts remain active, or permissions are expanded over many years. At the same time, regulatory requirements and the effort required for secure operations continue to increase.

99%

of companies use service accounts

1/3

of companies are actively involved in the management of non-human identities.

Non-Human Identity - Half Man and Half Network

Without a Centralized Overview, Risks Include:

Expired Certificates

Unused or Forgotten Service Accounts

Unprotected API Keys

Compromised Secrets

Lack of Transparency Regarding Existing Identities

Manual Management Processes

From Inventory to Controlled Management

The first step is transparency: Which Non-Human Identities exist? Where are they used? Who is responsible for them? What permissions do they have, and how are credentials managed?

Based on this information, priorities can be defined and suitable processes for lifecycle management, permissions, secrets, and certificates can be developed.

OEDIV SecuSys supports organizations from analysis and conceptual design through to technical implementation and further development.

Why NHI Management Is Becoming Increasingly Important

Technical identities are often operated for many years and are sometimes closely linked to applications or automated processes.

If such an account is no longer required, it may nevertheless remain active. Excessive permissions, unclear responsibilities, or undocumented dependencies can also become problematic.

Professional Non-Human Identity Management creates transparency around these identities and enables their use and permissions to be controlled throughout their entire lifecycle.

The Lifecycle of Non-Human Identities

A Non-Human Identity does not only come into existence with a certificate. It is created, assigned permissions, used in applications or machines, and must be regularly reviewed, renewed, or removed. If these steps are performed manually, the administrative effort increases with every additional application.

Structured Non-Human Identity Management helps organizations centrally control this lifecycle. Certificates can be renewed automatically, permissions can be managed transparently, and identities that are no longer required can be removed in good time. This reduces administrative effort while also improving traceability.

Our NHI Management Services

Analysis of existing machine and service identities
Implementation and further development of PKI solutions
Integration of Hardware Security Modules (HSM)
Certificate Lifecycle Management
Automation of certificate processes
Securing technical accounts and Service Accounts
Integration into existing IAM environments

NHI Management with OEDIV SecuSys

OEDIV SecuSys considers Non-Human Identities an integral part of modern Identity and Access Management. We support organizations in identifying technical identities, defining responsibilities, and establishing processes for their management.

We also consider their connection to related topics such as Privileged Access Management, Certificate Lifecycle Management, and Identity Governance.

Our approach is vendor-independent and tailored to the existing organizational and system landscape. This allows existing structures to be further developed without treating technical identities in isolation from the other IAM processes.

Benefits of a Centralized NHI Platform

Centralized Non-Human Identity Management creates transparency around machine identities, certificates, and technical accounts. Standardized processes reduce administrative effort and make it easier to comply with internal security policies and regulatory requirements.

Centralized management of all Non-Human Identities
Automated certificate processes
Greater transparency around technical identities

Reduced administrative effort
Support for compliance requirements
Secure integration into existing IAM and PKI environments

OEDIV SecuSys supports organizations in analyzing existing environments, selecting suitable technologies, and implementing solutions. We consider both organizational processes and technical components such as PKI, Hardware Security Modules, and Certificate Lifecycle Management.

vertrieb@secusys.de

FAQ

Frequently Asked
Questions

Here you will find answers to the most important questions about
our services and solutions.

What Is a Non-Human Identity?

A Non-Human Identity is a digital identity that belongs not to a person, but to a machine, application, or automated process: Service Accounts, API keys, access tokens, certificates for servers and devices, keys for administrative access, roles in cloud platforms, container accounts, software robots, and AI agents. In most organizations, their number far exceeds that of human users, and only a small proportion have an assigned owner.

Why Are Service Accounts a Security Risk?

Because they are rarely monitored and are often overprivileged. Keys embedded directly in source code, Service Account passwords that have remained unchanged for years, and orphaned accounts from completed projects are specifically targeted by attackers. At the same time, NIS2, DORA, and ISO 27001 require control over all access, not just human access. Without an inventory, assigned owners, and rules for password rotation, this cannot be demonstrated. This is where we come in.

Non-Human Identity, Machine Identity, Secrets Management: What Is the Difference?

Machine Identity Management primarily manages cryptographic identities, i.e. certificates and keys, through a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and certificate management. Secrets Management automatically stores and rotates credentials such as keys and passwords in a vault. Non-Human Identity Management is the overarching approach: it inventories all non-human identities, assigns owners and permissions to them, and manages their lifecycle from creation through decommissioning. Certificates and secrets are therefore individual components of the overall approach.

How Do You Get Started with Non-Human Identity Management?

Start with an inventory: Which Service Accounts, keys, certificates, and tokens exist in Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, cloud platforms, software delivery pipelines, and databases, and who is responsible for them? This is followed by assigning owners, replacing hard-coded credentials with vaults and short-lived tokens, automating certificate renewal, and connecting to the IGA system for regular access reviews. We begin every project with an inventory because the number of identities discovered is almost always significantly higher than the number documented.

How Are Non-Human Identities, PAM, and IGA Connected?

Identity Governance & Administration (IGA) maintains an inventory and owner for each Non-Human Identity and ensures that its permissions are regularly reviewed. Privileged Access Management (PAM) stores the credentials of privileged Service Accounts in a vault and rotates them automatically. Secrets Management provides applications and software delivery pipelines with short-lived credentials instead of hard-coded keys. Certificate management handles issuance and renewal. We integrate these components into your existing IAM architecture and avoid creating another isolated solution.

Do AI Agents Need Their Own Identity?

Yes. AI agents that independently access systems are Non-Human Identities with particularly high risk: they act autonomously, often require extensive permissions, and can be deployed outside IT very quickly. They need their own identity instead of shared credentials, tightly scoped and time-limited permissions, a designated human owner, and complete logging of their actions. These are the same principles as for Service Accounts, applied consistently. We integrate AI agents into the same governance processes as all other identities.

How Can AI Agents Be Kept Under Control?

Using the same means as for other identities, applied consistently, plus guardrails for how they operate. Each agent receives its own identity with tightly scoped, time-limited permissions, managed and regularly reviewed in the Identity Governance system. Credentials are stored in a vault and rotated automatically; privileged actions are handled through the privileged access solution and logged. Process orchestration defines which steps an agent may perform independently and where human approval is required. This allows the agent to work faster without acting in an uncontrolled manner.