Machine Identities: The Hidden Threat Lurking in Your Security Stack

Read full article here: https://www.sailpoint.com/blog/machine-identity-security/?utm_source=nhimg

Every organization today runs on automation. From bots that process payments to service accounts that connect cloud workloads, machine identities now power nearly every digital process. But while these non-human accounts keep your business running, they’ve also become one of your biggest unmanaged risks.

A recent SailPoint sponsored survey by Dimensional Research reveals a worrying truth: 69% of companies now manage more machine identities than human ones and for many, that number is ten times higher. Yet despite their prevalence, most remain invisible, untracked, and ungoverned.

The Ghosts in the Machine

Machine identities are like ghosts in your environment, they never log out, rarely expire, and often outlive their purpose. According to the study:

• 72% of identity professionals find machine identities harder to manage than human ones.
• 66% say managing them involves more manual steps and higher operational effort.
• 88% fear deleting a machine identity could break something critical, so they simply don’t.

The result? Thousands of dormant, unmonitored credentials linger across systems — waiting to be misused.

Audit and Compliance Nightmares

These “digital ghosts” don’t just pose security risks — they break compliance, too.

• 59% of companies report difficulty auditing machine identities.
• 60% face compliance gaps tied directly to unmanaged machine accounts.
• Only 38% have a real-time view of active machine identities.

Without automation and visibility, organizations are flying blind, unable to prove who (or what) has access to sensitive systems.

Security Risks Outpacing Human Identities

Unseen doesn’t mean harmless. The survey found:

• 60% of respondents believe machine identities pose a greater risk than human ones.
• 57% admitted inappropriate access was granted to a machine account.

When attackers compromise an API key or service account, they gain silent, privileged access, no MFA, no login alerts, no questions asked. These machine credentials often have unrestricted reach across environments, making them perfect vectors for lateral movement and data exfiltration.

Taking Back Control: Automation for the Automated

The path forward isn’t more manual oversight, it’s automated governance.

To secure machine identities, organizations need:

• Automated Discovery — Find every machine identity across on-prem and cloud.
• Lifecycle Management — Govern creation, use, and retirement with defined owners.
• Continuous Certification — Audit and validate all non-human credentials.
• Centralized Visibility — Maintain a single source of truth for all machine access.

How SailPoint Machine Identity Security Helps

SailPoint’s Machine Identity Security brings order to the chaos. By automatically discovering, classifying, and managing every machine account — from bots to service identities — it ensures every non-human entity is visible, governed, and compliant.

With SailPoint, you can:

• Eliminate manual management
• Reduce compliance gaps
• Prevent silent privilege escalation

In an era where machines outnumber humans, the choice is clear: govern them, or risk being haunted by them.

Bottom Line

Machine identities are the silent majority — essential, powerful, and dangerously overlooked. Securing them isn’t just good hygiene; it’s foundational to identity security in the age of automation.