Top Best Practices for Managing Non-Human Identities (NHI) in 2025

Read full article here: https://www.token.security/blog/non-human-identity-management/?utm_source=nhimg

Enterprises today are experiencing an unprecedented explosion in non-human identities (NHIs). These identities, ranging from API keys, service accounts, tokens, secrets, SSH keys, TLS certificates, and machine identities, now outnumber human users by up to 100 to 1.

They run the digital fabric of modern businesses, powering cloud workloads, DevOps pipelines, microservices, containerized applications, and AI-driven agent workflows.

Yet, this exponential growth has created one of the largest hidden risks in cybersecurity. Unlike human accounts, which are governed through structured onboarding and access controls, NHIs often:

• Proliferate without oversight during automation and DevOps processes.
• Accumulate excessive privileges beyond their intended purpose.
• Remain unmonitored or unmanaged across their full identity lifecycle.
• Linger as orphaned or zombie accounts long after the workload or system is retired.

For attackers, these conditions are a goldmine. A single exposed API key or abandoned service account can act as a stealth backdoor, bypassing traditional perimeter defenses. From the Snowflake breach to insider-driven automation leaks, NHI mismanagement has been at the heart of many recent high-profile security incidents.

Why NHI Security Must Be a Priority

• Scale problem – With tens of thousands of NHIs across multi-cloud environments, manual management is impossible.
• Blind spots – Security teams often don’t know how many NHIs exist, where they live, or who owns them.
• Privilege risk – Over-permissioned machine identities create lateral movement paths attackers can exploit.
• Compliance gaps – Regulations increasingly require proof of least privilege enforcement and lifecycle governance for all identities — not just humans.

Best Practices for NHI Management

1- Continuous Discovery of NHIs - Visibility is the foundation. Organizations must continuously scan across cloud, on-prem, SaaS, DevOps,

and AI systems to uncover every active and dormant NHI. Without discovery, all other controls are meaningless.

2- Identity Risk Graph & Context Mapping - Map relationships between NHIs, workloads, secrets, and privilege paths. Building an identity risk

graph enables security teams to see attack paths, privilege escalation risks, and orphaned accounts that would otherwise remain invisible.

3- Lifecycle Governance - Enforce strong policies from creation to deprovisioning. This includes ownership assignment, rotation of secrets,

monitoring of usage, and timely removal when no longer needed. Lifecycle management prevents zombie NHIs from becoming silent entry points.

4- Least Privilege & Just-in-Time Access - Grant only the minimum privileges necessary, and where possible, implement just-in-time (JIT)

access for workloads. This drastically shrinks the attack surface and prevents identity abuse.

5- Automated Intelligent Remediation - With thousands of NHIs, manual fixes are impossible. Intelligent remediation systems can prioritize

risk based on context, automate rotation of exposed keys, and clean up unused accounts without disrupting production.

6- Identity Threat Detection & Response (ITDR) - As attackers increasingly target machine identities, ITDR is the next frontier. Security

teams must monitor NHI behaviors, detect anomalies, and respond in real time to prevent lateral movement and privilege abuse.

Moving Toward Secure NHI Operations

Organizations that embrace these practices gain more than just risk reduction. They enable:

• Operational efficiency – Automation and AI workflows continue without security bottlenecks.
• Regulatory alignment – Demonstrable controls for audits and compliance.
• Resilience – Reduced risk of major breaches from forgotten credentials or unmanaged accounts.

Token Security provides the visibility, risk context, and intelligent automation required to manage NHIs at enterprise scale.

The future of cybersecurity is identity-first, and that includes every non-human identity in your ecosystem. By building strong governance, enforcing least privilege, and preparing for ITDR readiness, enterprises can transform NHI security from a hidden risk into a controlled advantage.