The Complete Guide to Mitigating OWASP’s Top 10 Non-Human Identity Threats

Read full article from Okta here:  https://www.okta.com/blog/ai/how-okta-mitigates-owasps-top-10-non-human-identity-risks/?utm_source=nhimg

As organizations accelerate their adoption of automation, APIs, and cloud workloads, Non-Human Identities (NHIs), including machine accounts, service accounts, tokens, and API keys, have quietly become one of the largest and least understood attack surfaces in enterprise security. The OWASP Top 10 Non-Human Identity (NHI) Risks for 2025 exposes just how vulnerable this expanding ecosystem has become, with issues ranging from secret sprawl and improper offboarding to overprivileged automation accounts.

While these identities drive efficiency, they also introduce major risk factors: hard-coded secrets, static credentials, lack of MFA, and limited lifecycle management. Without continuous visibility or automated governance, NHIs often operate outside security policies, leaving attackers with opportunities to exploit unmonitored credentials and privileged access pathways.

Okta’s Unified Approach to Securing Non-Human Identities

Okta addresses these challenges head-on with an integrated identity security platform that brings together automation, visibility, and least-privilege enforcement. Rather than treating NHIs as an afterthought, Okta embeds them within a unified identity security fabric, ensuring that every credential, key, and service account is governed, monitored, and secured with the same rigor as human users.

1. Strengthening Identity Governance Through the Okta Integration Network (OIN)

The Okta Integration Network (OIN) automates the most complex parts of non-human identity management by providing pre-built connectors for platforms like AWS, GitHub, and Kubernetes. These integrations enforce least-privilege access, enable automated credential rotation, and reduce manual configuration errors. By streamlining app onboarding, offboarding, and access certification, OIN integrations eliminate the “secret sprawl” that fuels several OWASP NHI risks.

2. Proactive Monitoring and Automated Remediation with Identity Security Posture Management (ISPM)

Okta’s Identity Security Posture Management (ISPM) continuously monitors both human and non-human identities across hybrid environments. It detects orphaned service accounts (NHI1), identifies overprivileged identities (NHI5), and alerts on long-lived secrets (NHI7). Through integration with Okta Workflows, ISPM automates remediation — suspending unused accounts, enforcing credential rotation, or triggering approval workflows based on policy thresholds. This automation accelerates response times and ensures consistent enforcement across the identity lifecycle.

3. Enforcing Strong Authentication and Least Privilege with Okta Privileged Access

For accounts requiring elevated access, Okta Privileged Access (OPA) delivers zero-trust controls and automated password vaulting. It prevents credential reuse (NHI9), enforces time-limited access, and supports automated credential rotation after use. OPA extends protection to non-federated and legacy systems, ensuring that even older applications comply with modern security expectations like least privilege and just-in-time access.

Mapping Okta Capabilities to OWASP’s NHI Risks

By combining OIN, ISPM, and OPA, Okta provides a defense-in-depth framework that aligns directly with OWASP’s Top 10 NHI risk categories.

• Improper Offboarding (NHI1): Detect and disable orphaned NHIs automatically.
• Insecure Authentication (NHI4): Enforce MFA coverage and monitor for SSO bypass attempts.
• Overprivileged Accounts (NHI5): Identify excessive permissions and enforce least-privilege access.
• Long-Lived Secrets (NHI7): Automate credential rotation and expiration policies.
• Environment Isolation (NHI8) & NHI Reuse (NHI9): Maintain environment segmentation and track credential uniqueness.
• Human/NHI Misclassification (NHI10): Leverage ISPM’s identity graph to flag misused service accounts.

This layered approach provides both visibility and control, allowing organizations to close the identity gap before attackers exploit it.

Securing the Future of Non-Human Identities

The OWASP Top 10 NHI Risks make one thing clear: securing non-human identities is no longer optional. As automation and AI-driven systems expand, unmanaged NHIs will continue to amplify enterprise exposure if left unchecked.

With Okta’s unified capabilities, from integration automation (OIN) and continuous monitoring (ISPM) to privileged access governance (OPA), organizations can operationalize NHI security, simplify compliance, and reduce attack surface at scale.

By embedding NHI protection into the core of identity governance, Okta transforms a complex, fragmented challenge into a manageable and measurable part of modern identity security strategy.