Every modern enterprise runs on a hidden workforce. That workforce includes service accounts, API keys, OAuth tokens, CI/CD pipelines, RPA bots, cloud workloads, and now AI agents. Each one holds credentials, connects to systems, and moves data, usually with no person watching in real time.
These non-human identities (NHIs) now outnumber human users in most organizations by a wide margin. They are created quickly, often by developers or vendors rather than IAM teams. They are rarely reviewed, and they are almost never retired on schedule. The result is a sprawling layer of access that traditional identity programs were never designed to see.
Non-Human Identity Management brings that layer into view. It discovers every NHI, ties each one to an accountable owner, enforces least-privilege access, and governs credentials from creation to decommission.
Machine identities are easy targets for cyberattacks. It’s crucial to continually track and secure them - just like human identities. IDMWORKS stays ahead of the curve in machine identity access management by tracking all machine identities, applying strict access policies, regularly auditing non-human identity usage and using intelligent automation to monitor for new anomalies.
Your ChallengeAccess without accountability.
Attackers have noticed what many security programs haven’t: a leaked API key or an over-permissioned service account is often an easier way in than a phished password. NHIs rarely use MFA, their secrets tend to be long-lived, and their activity blends into normal automated traffic.
Several questions are worth asking:
Can you count them? Many organizations can’t produce a reliable inventory of their service accounts, tokens, and secrets, let alone say who owns each one.
Are they treated as privileged? NHIs frequently hold broad, standing access to production systems, yet they sit outside PAM and access review processes built for people.
What happens when someone leaves? When an employee departs, their account is removed. The tokens and integrations they created often stay behind.
Are you ready for AI agents? Autonomous agents act on behalf of users and systems, chain tools together, and request new access dynamically. They need guardrails that static policies can’t provide.
Why NHIs are different
Non-human identities don’t behave like people, so they can’t be governed like people. They are created programmatically and in bulk. They run continuously, at machine speed. Their credentials are often hardcoded, shared across environments, or stored in places they shouldn’t be. And because they scale up and down with workloads, the attack surface they create changes by the hour.
Common risk patterns include:
Secret sprawl where keys and tokens end up in code repositories, config files, and chat messages.
Excess privilege where permissions are granted broadly at creation and never trimmed.
Orphaned identities - meaning accounts and integrations that outlive the projects or people that created them.
Stale credentials which go unrotated for months or years.
Third-party exposure where SaaS integrations and vendor connections reach deep into your data.
How this impacts CISOs
77%
77% of organizations have experienced two or more disruptive outages caused by expired certificates in the past two years. - State of Machine Identity Management Report
65%
65% of organizations either took steps to protect machine identities last year or plan to do so in the next 12 months. - Cyberark
62%
62% of organizations don't know how many keys and certificates they have. - State of Machine Identity Management Report
The IDMWORKS DifferenceBring every identity, human or not, under one governance model.
We start by mapping your NHI landscape across cloud platforms, SaaS applications, DevOps tooling, and on-premises systems. This surfaces unknown accounts, risky permissions, and exposed secrets, so you have a clear baseline before anything changes.
Ownership and Governance
We help you assign accountable owners to each NHI and fold them into your existing IGA and access review processes. That way non-human access is certified with the same rigor as human access.
Hands-on Implementation
Our team works alongside yours to put controls in place without disrupting the automation your business depends on. This includes:
Certificate Lifecycle Automation covering issuance, rotation, vaulting, and revocation of secrets, keys, and certificates.
Least-privilege enforcement, which right-sizes permissions and replaces standing access with just-in-time access where possible.
Continuous monitoring, with behavioral baselines and alerts that catch anomalous NHI activity early.
AI agent guardrails, including policies and oversight for agentic workloads as they enter your environment.
Proven Methodology IDMWORKS guides, implements,
integrates and manages Managed Identity solutions tailored to your needs in a fast-paced,
global environment.
Guide
We benchmark legacy systems, develop a strategy and financial business case, evaluate best-fit IAM solutions and vendors, and develop policies that build resilience and drive growth.
Launch
We select, implement, configure, align, customize and train staff on your IAM solution so you get the best value, protection and ROI from your cybersecurity technology investments.
Connect
Our technical expertise and cutting-edge, proprietary tools automate, monitor and control IAM. Automation maximizes operational efficiency and prevents users from bypassing security policies.
Manage
Our proven, industry-renowned managed identity services will stabilize, manage, integrate and scale your IAM. We ensure compliance, and facilitate your migration to AI, SaaS and the cloud.
IDMWORKS' VendorsWe partner with top-tier workforce identity vendors.
Get StartedClose the gap between the identities you manage and the ones that actually have access.
Contact IDMWORKS to learn how a Non-Human Identity program reduces breach risk, strengthens compliance, and lets your teams keep automating with confidence.
BlogThe Power of Privileged Access Management: Why PAM is Essential
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