Securing Human and Machine Identities Through Stronger Access Governance

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The stakes have never been higher. In 2024, the global average cost of a data breach reached $4.9 million, marking a 10% increase from the previous year and setting a new record. For organizations operating in today’s cloud-native environment, this isn’t just a statistic, it’s a warning.

Why Access Governance Matters

Access governance sits at the heart of modern cybersecurity. It determines who (or what) can access sensitive systems, when, and under what conditions. Historically, governance models were designed for human identities, with controls such as role-based access, MFA, and centralized provisioning.

But this paradigm has been disrupted. The rise of cloud platforms, microservices, DevOps pipelines, and AI-driven automation has fueled an exponential growth of non-human identities (NHIs) like service accounts, tokens, APIs, secrets, keys, and bots. These NHIs now outnumber human accounts by orders of magnitude, creating an attack surface that legacy IAM and PAM systems were never built to manage.

The reality is clear: every unmanaged or overprivileged identity, whether human or machine, is a potential breach point.

Best Practices for Human and Machine Identity Governance

In recognition of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, organizations should adopt a holistic, identity-first approach to governance, addressing both human and non-human identities with equal rigor.

1. Discovery and Ownership
   • Maintain a living inventory of all identities, across humans and NHIs.
   • Establish clear ownership of each NHI, linking them back to accountable human operators or teams.

2. Risk Posture Management
   • Continuously assess the risk associated with each identity.
   • Prioritize remediation for inactive service accounts, outdated credentials, and overprivileged roles.

3. Governance and Lifecycle Controls
   • Assign governance responsibilities to service owners.
   • Implement workflows for onboarding, secret rotation, offboarding, and privilege reviews.
   • Enforce least privilege and just-in-time access for sensitive systems.

The Payoff

Strong access governance is not just about reducing cyber risk, it also enables productivity and better business outcomes. By securing access for both humans and NHIs, organizations can:

• Safeguard critical resources and infrastructure.
• Streamline operations by reducing friction between security and development teams.
• Minimize enterprise risk, ensuring business continuity even in the face of evolving threats.

Bottom Line

As cloud-native adoption accelerates, the divide between human and non-human identities is narrowing. To stay secure, organizations must embrace a unified access governance strategy that discovers, governs, and secures all identities equally.