Closing the Governance Gap in Non-Human Identity Security

Read full article here: https://www.p0.dev/blog/machine-workload-service--it-doesnt-matter-if-its-unsecured/?soucre=nhimg  

Non-Human Identities (NHIs), whether labeled as machine identities, service accounts, or workload principals, have become one of the most overlooked yet critical elements in modern cybersecurity. In a recent panel discussion hosted by Lalit Choda (aka Mr. NHI), founder of the NHI Management Group at Identiverse, experts from P0 Security, SailPoint, SlashID, and Astrix Security shed light on the urgent need for a standardized, governance-driven approach to securing these identities.

Defining the NHI Problem

Today’s identity ecosystem is fragmented. AWS IAM roles, Azure service principals, and GCP service accounts each define “identity” differently. Without a consistent taxonomy or unified governance model, organizations struggle to answer the foundational security question:
“Who or what, can take what action on which resource?”

This lack of visibility creates reactive, siloed security practices, leaving shadow identities to persist unnoticed in logs and spreadsheets. True NHI security requires mapping entitlements, linking them to specific identities, and enforcing continuous policy governance.

Real-World Exploitation Trends

The panel highlighted that NHI-related breaches are already happening at scale:

• Credential-Based Attacks on the Rise – CrowdStrike reports a 6× spike in credential-based intrusions, with AWS attributing 66% of customer breaches to exposed NHI credentials.

• Lateral Movement via Stolen Keys – Astrix Security demonstrated how harvesting a single AWS key from a GitHub branch enabled attackers to impersonate a CI/CD service account, pivot across cloud and SaaS environments, persist undetected, and exfiltrate data.

These incidents prove that adversaries no longer need to “break in” when they can log in using compromised machine credentials.

Path Forward – Governance + Orchestration

Visibility alone is insufficient. Effective NHI security requires a posture-first, governance-driven model:

• Govern All Identities – Apply the same rigor to NHIs as human accounts.

• Enforce Short-Lived, Least-Privilege Access – Reduce standing privileges and limit blast radius.

• Eliminate Static Credentials – Shift to passwordless, orchestrated authentication flows.

• Continuously Monitor & Enforce – Move from point-in-time audits to ongoing governance.

At P0 Security, this philosophy combines posture, governance, and orchestration to ensure every identity, human or non-human, is governed and every access request is both ephemeral and secure.

The Bottom Line

Whether labeled as machine, service, or workload identities, unsecured NHIs present the same high-risk reality: if left ungoverned, they will be exploited. Standardizing how we define, track, and secure these identities is no longer optional, it’s a strategic imperative for reducing breach risk in the cloud era.