Cloud-Only Identity Objects

Expanded Definition

Cloud-only identity objects are directory records that exist solely in a cloud identity plane, such as cloud users, groups, service principals, and role assignments that are not mirrored in on-premises Active Directory. They are common in cloud-first and hybrid environments where identity control is distributed across multiple platforms rather than anchored in one directory.

Unlike synced identities, cloud-only objects are governed by the cloud tenant’s lifecycle rules, administrative boundaries, and recovery processes. That makes them operationally distinct from traditional AD objects, especially when organisations use them for privileged access, automation, break-glass access, or delegated administration. Definitions vary across vendors when cloud-only objects are discussed alongside federated identities, but the security issue is consistent: if the cloud identity record is deleted, mis-scoped, or orphaned, access can be disrupted even though the underlying cloud workload remains healthy. For baseline security guidance, NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 frames these assets as part of identity governance and access control discipline rather than as a simple directory housekeeping task. The most common misapplication is treating cloud-only objects like synchronized accounts, which occurs when teams assume on-premises recovery procedures will restore cloud access automatically.

For broader NHI context, NHI Management Group’s Ultimate Guide to NHIs explains why cloud-native identities must be managed as first-class access assets, not as incidental records.

Examples and Use Cases

Implementing cloud-only identity objects rigorously often introduces lifecycle complexity, requiring organisations to balance administrative independence against the risk of identity drift and recovery gaps.

• A cloud-only break-glass account is created in a SaaS tenant so administrators can regain access if federation fails, but it must be tightly protected and regularly tested.
• A cloud-only security group is used to grant temporary access to a production subscription during an incident, then removed after the response window closes.
• A service principal is registered directly in the cloud to let an automation pipeline deploy infrastructure without depending on on-premises directory sync.
• A cloud-only role assignment is used for a third-party auditor, avoiding unnecessary exposure of internal directory objects while preserving audit access.
• A tenant-local administrative account is retained for recovery, with separate controls from the organisation’s primary directory and password vaulting process.

These patterns are common in cloud governance discussions and align with identity guidance from the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0. NHI Management Group also documents how identity visibility gaps and secret-handling failures amplify cloud access risk in the Ultimate Guide to NHIs and related breach analysis such as the 52 NHI Breaches Analysis.

Why It Matters in NHI Security

Cloud-only identity objects matter because they often become the control point for non-human access, delegated administration, and emergency recovery. When they are not inventoried or governed, organisations can lose visibility into who or what still has rights in a tenant, which undermines least privilege and complicates incident response. This is especially important in NHI security, where service accounts, automation identities, and role bindings can outnumber human accounts by a wide margin. NHI Management Group reports that only 5.7% of organisations have full visibility into their service accounts, and that 97% of NHIs carry excessive privileges. Those conditions are dangerous when the identity object itself is cloud-only, because there may be no upstream directory source to fall back on during remediation.

Cloud-only objects also complicate offboarding, rotation, and emergency access because teams must govern them inside the cloud control plane and not rely on AD processes that never touched them. The risk is not just unauthorized access, but also accidental lockout when a privileged object is deleted or disabled without a recovery plan. For governance teams, this is where Top 10 NHI Issues and the Ultimate Guide to NHIs become operational references rather than theory. Organisations typically encounter the importance of cloud-only identity objects only after a tenant recovery, access outage, or privilege review exposes an orphaned account, at which point the term becomes operationally unavoidable to address.

Related resources from NHI Mgmt Group

• How should security teams recover from malicious changes in a hybrid identity environment when cloud identity objects are deleted or modified?
• Non-Human Identity Access Management
• Overprivileged Identity
• How should security teams unify identity across cloud and data center environments?