Why do Hackers go after Non-Human Identities?

Lalit Choda, NHI Mgmt Group

Hackers target Non-Human / Machine Identities for several reasons :

1. Access to Critical Systems: Compromising Non-Human Identities can provide hackers with access to critical systems and sensitive data . By exploiting vulnerabilities in Non-Human Identities and using lateral movement, attackers can infiltrate networks and compromise systems or steal valuable/sensitive data.

2. Persistence and Longevity: Non-Human Identities often have longer lifespans and persistent access to systems compared to human accounts. Once compromised, these identities can be used for prolonged periods without detection, allowing hackers to maintain unauthorized access and carry out malicious activities undetected.

3. Automated Attacks: Automated attacks targeting Non-Human Identities can scale more efficiently compared to manual attacks against human accounts. Hackers can leverage botnets and malware to target a large number of non-human identities simultaneously, increasing their chances of success in breaching organizational defences.

4. Weakened Security Controls: Non-Human Identities generally have much weaker security controls compared to human accounts, making them attractive targets for attackers. Hardcoded passwords in source code, weak authentication mechanisms, lack of secret rotation, non-complex passwords, stale accounts, inadequate access controls and excessive privileges can create vulnerabilities that hackers exploit to gain unauthorized access.

5. 3rd Party Supply Chain Attacks: Hackers may target Non-Human Identities within an organization's 3rd party supply chain to compromise upstream systems and gain access to their target. By infiltrating trusted third-party systems or vendors, attackers can exploit trust relationships to bypass security defences and breach data.

6. Monetary Gain: Breaching organizations through compromised Non-Human Identities can lead to financial gain for hackers. They may steal sensitive information for ransom or sell it on the dark web, extorting victims for monetary compensation in exchange for not disclosing or exploiting the stolen data.

In summary, hackers target Non-Human / Machine Identities to gain access to critical systems, exploit weaknesses in security controls, to ultimately achieve monetary gain through data breaches and extortion.