Understanding Non-Human Identities in Cybersecurity | How to Secure Machine Accounts, API Keys, and Secrets in 2025

Table of Contents

• What Are Non-Human Identities (NHIs)?
• Why Are NHIs a Growing Risk?
• Real-Life Examples of Machine Identity Breaches
• Why Secrets Managers Aren’t Enough
• GitGuardian’s NHI Security Platform: How It Solves the Problem
• Compliance and Zero Trust Requirements
• How Can DevOps and Security Teams Work Together?
•  Key Takeaways
•  Conclusion
•  Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

In the digital age, we’ve learned how to manage human identities with tools like IAM platforms, 2FA, and access control systems. But what about non-human identities? These silent actors—API keys, bots, service accounts, and machine credentials—are now outnumbering humans 100:1, and they are becoming one of the biggest blind spots in cybersecurity.

What Are Non-Human Identities (NHIs)?

Non-Human Identities (NHIs) refer to digital identities used by machines and software, such as:

• API keys

  
  

• Service accounts

• Bots

• Automation scripts

• Cloud workloads

• CI/CD credentials

  
  

These identities are used to automate tasks, access services, or transfer data between systems. They don’t have physical bodies—but they carry real security risk.

Why Are NHIs a Growing Risk?

1. They Outnumber Human Identities

For every human employee, there may be 100+ machine identities operating across environments.

2. Secrets Sprawl

These identities carry secrets (tokens, API keys, credentials), which are often:

• Hardcoded in source code

• Shared across teams

• Forgotten after deployments

According to GitGuardian, 70% of secrets in public repositories stay active for years, making them easy targets for attackers.

3. Poor Visibility & Governance

Unlike employee accounts that are documented and tracked, NHIs are often:

• Created automatically

• Not decommissioned properly

• Left with over-permissive access

 Real-Life Examples of Machine Identity Breaches

• Toyota: Leaked credentials exposed cloud infrastructure.

• U.S. Department of the Treasury: Compromised keys led to data access.

• New York Times: Unmanaged API tokens gave access to sensitive services.

 Why Secrets Managers Aren’t Enough

Secrets managers like HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, or CyberArk are great at storing secrets—but they don’t solve the lifecycle problem:

• They can’t detect secrets leaked outside their vault.

• They don’t auto-rotate credentials.

• They lack visibility across environments like CI/CD, cloud, and ticketing tools.

Shockingly, GitGuardian’s data shows repositories using secrets managers had higher leakage (5.1%) than those without (4.6%)—because they handle more sensitive information.

 GitGuardian’s NHI Security Platform: How It Solves the Problem

To truly secure NHIs, we need a comprehensive, automated, and continuous solution. GitGuardian provides exactly that.

1.  Discovery & Inventory

Secrets can be hidden anywhere:

• Source code

• Messaging apps (Slack, Teams)

• Pipelines (GitHub Actions, Jenkins)

• Cloud configs

GitGuardian scans and maps all machine identities—providing a complete, real-time inventory with context.

2.  Provisioning with Governance

Avoid:

• Over-permissioned accounts

• Manual config errors

• Hidden zombie tokens

GitGuardian enforces least privilege policies, standardizes onboarding, and ensures consistency across teams.

3.  Continuous Monitoring

Modern enterprises use:

• Multiple cloud services

• CI/CD systems

• Secrets managers (avg. 6 per org)

GitGuardian aggregates logs, normalizes usage data, and flags anomalies or policy violations in real time.

4.  Auto-Rotation & Remediation

Credential rotation is complex. But with integrations to AWS, Azure, and other tools, GitGuardian:

• Identifies owners

• Suggests fixes

• Automates rotation & revocation

5.  Decommissioning Zombie Credentials

Unused secrets are gold mines for hackers. GitGuardian flags:

• Expired tokens

• Inactive service accounts

• Abandoned repositories

And helps safely retire them.

 Compliance and Zero Trust Requirements

Modern security frameworks now mandate machine identity governance:

GitGuardian supports all of these with policy templates, compliance reporting, and continuous auditing.

 How Can DevOps and Security Teams Work Together?

Security shouldn't block development. GitGuardian empowers:

• DevOps: with easy-to-use scanning tools and IDE plugins

• Security teams: with dashboards, alerts, and audit trails

Together, they can automate NHI management across the SDLC.

 Key Takeaways

• Machine identities are growing fast—and being overlooked.

• Secrets managers are necessary but insufficient.

• NHIs require continuous discovery, governance, and remediation.

• Platforms like GitGuardian are bridging this massive security gap.

• Don’t wait for a breach—act before attackers do.

Conclusion

If you’re scaling in the cloud, using AI agents, or building microservices, your NHIs are increasing daily. Managing them isn’t optional anymore—it’s a core part of your security strategy.

Invest in tools that:

• Give full visibility

• Provide automation

• Keep secrets secure from creation to deletion

Because in 2025, the biggest threats are no longer human.

FAQ

What are non-human identities in cybersecurity?

Non-human identities (NHIs) are digital credentials used by systems, applications, and bots instead of humans. Examples include API keys, service accounts, and automation scripts.

Why are machine identities a major security risk in 2025?

Machine identities now outnumber human identities by up to 100:1, creating vast blind spots. They often go unmanaged, leading to leaked secrets, zombie credentials, and over-permissioned accounts.

What is the role of GitGuardian in non-human identity protection?

GitGuardian offers an NHI Security Platform that provides discovery, centralized monitoring, lifecycle governance, and automation for managing machine identities across code, cloud, and CI/CD pipelines.

How do leaked secrets impact organizations?

Leaked secrets like API tokens or credentials can give attackers access to cloud services, databases, or internal systems. Breaches at Toyota and the U.S. Treasury were linked to such leaks.

What is secrets sprawl?

Secrets sprawl is the uncontrolled spread of credentials across environments such as source code, cloud systems, and messaging platforms, increasing the risk of exposure.

Why are secrets managers like Vault not enough?

Secrets managers only store secrets securely—they don’t discover leaked credentials outside their vault or offer automated governance. Lifecycle visibility is missing.

What is GitGuardian’s discovery and inventory feature?

It automatically scans codebases, cloud environments, and developer tools to locate all machine identities and secrets, creating a real-time, contextualized inventory.

How can enterprises onboard machine identities securely?

By standardizing workflows that enforce least privilege, auditability, and seamless integration with secrets managers, companies can reduce risk during onboarding.

What does continuous monitoring mean in NHI security?

It refers to real-time visibility into all machine identity actions—flagging suspicious behavior, unauthorized usage, or policy violations using anomaly detection.

How does auto-rotation improve NHI security?

Credential rotation limits the window of attack. GitGuardian automates the process by integrating with secret managers and identifying stale or compromised credentials.

What are zombie credentials?

Zombie credentials are unused or orphaned machine identities that still have access but are no longer needed. They’re high-value targets for attackers.

What regulations apply to machine identities?

Regulations like PCI DSS 4.0, NIST, and OWASP Top 10 2025 now specifically mandate control over machine identities, including discovery, governance, and monitoring.

What are OWASP’s Top Non-Human Identity Risks in 2025?

OWASP’s 2025 NHI list includes "Secret Leakage" as the #2 risk, highlighting the danger of exposed credentials in public repositories and cloud configurations.

How can organizations align NHI governance with Zero Trust?

Zero Trust requires strict access controls, audit trails, and identity verification—even for machines. NHIs must be onboarded, monitored, and decommissioned securely.

Can developers unknowingly leak secrets?

Yes. Developers may accidentally hardcode credentials into source code or push them to public repositories, creating high-risk exposure.

What tools integrate with GitGuardian’s NHI platform?

It integrates with AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault, GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Slack, Jenkins, and more for full lifecycle NHI protection.

How does GitGuardian support compliance?

It offers pre-configured policy templates, compliance reports, and continuous audits to meet frameworks like NIST, PCI DSS, and ISO 27001.

Why is secret rotation important?

Rotating credentials reduces the lifespan of leaked secrets and helps mitigate damage from breaches or unauthorized access.

What is the impact of unmanaged machine identities?

Unmanaged identities can lead to data leaks, unauthorized access, compliance violations, and system outages due to expired or misconfigured credentials.

How to reduce the burden of secrets lifecycle management?

Use automated tools that discover, rotate, decommission, and monitor machine identities without manual intervention.

How are DevOps and SRE teams involved in NHI governance?

They play a key role in provisioning, managing, and integrating secrets across CI/CD, containers, and microservices—making collaboration essential.

How does GitGuardian help secure CI/CD pipelines?

It scans build environments and pipelines for hardcoded secrets and ensures secure provisioning of service accounts used during deployments.

What happens if a secret is leaked on Slack or Teams?

Attackers may intercept and exploit those secrets. GitGuardian monitors messaging platforms to detect and alert on such incidents.

How can organizations onboard GitGuardian?

They can start with GitGuardian’s free scanning tools, upgrade to enterprise for full automation, and integrate with their existing IAM and DevSecOps stack.

Is GitGuardian suitable for multi-cloud environments?

Yes. It supports AWS, Azure, and GCP environments, offering centralized visibility and security for distributed secrets.

How does GitGuardian assist in offboarding?

It identifies inactive or orphaned secrets and automates decommissioning to prevent unauthorized access through forgotten credentials.

Can GitGuardian detect secrets in real-time?

Yes, it supports real-time scanning of repositories, ticketing systems, and chat apps to instantly flag and respond to exposed secrets.

How are backdoors related to non-human identities?

Backdoors often use stolen machine identities to gain persistent access. NHIs must be tightly governed to prevent backdoor exploitation.

What industries benefit most from NHI governance?

Industries like finance, healthcare, SaaS, and government—where APIs, microservices, and DevOps tools are heavily used—benefit greatly.

What’s the future of non-human identity security?

With AI, IoT, and cloud adoption rising, machine identities will keep growing. Automated governance, continuous discovery, and lifecycle control will be crucial.