Non-Human Identity Security
Non-Human Identity (NHI) Security is the specialized discipline within cybersecurity dedicated to managing and protecting the digital credentials and access privileges of automated systems, applications, and devices that operate without direct human intervention. It is a critical, often overlooked component of modern security posture, as NHIs usually outnumber human users and hold extensive, privileged access.
The Scope of Non-Human Identities
NHIs are the "invisible workforce" that drives automation in cloud, DevOps, and microservices environments. Securing them involves managing a wide range of credential types:
Service Accounts: Accounts used by applications to run tasks, access files, or connect systems, often created manually in on-premises or legacy environments.
API Keys and Tokens: Small, secret data pieces that authenticate and authorize machine-to-machine communication and data exchange between services (e.g., OAuth tokens).
Machine Identities: Identities assigned to infrastructure components like servers, virtual machines (VMs), containers, and IoT devices, typically secured with certificates or cryptographic keys to ensure encrypted communication.
Workload Identities: Credentials automatically provisioned to cloud-native components like serverless functions to authenticate with other cloud services.
Core Strategies for NHI Security
NHI security provides the structure and governance that these automated accounts often lack, reducing the risk of a breach through a compromised machine identity.
1. Visibility and Context
The foundational step is achieving continuous discovery and centralized inventory of all NHIs across the entire hybrid and multi-cloud environment, as many go undocumented or unmonitored (sprawl).
Classification: NHIs must be categorized by type, function, and privilege level, and context—such as ownership and purpose—must be assigned to each one.
2. Access Governance and Privilege
Controlling what NHIs can do is vital to limiting damage if they are compromised.
Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP): This is paramount. NHIs must be granted only the minimum permissions necessary for their specific, limited function, and permissions should be regularly reviewed and adjusted to prevent excessive access.
Temporary Credentials: Where possible, use temporary, dynamically acquired credentials (e.g., IAM roles) instead of static, long-term keys to limit exposure.
3. Lifecycle and Credential Management
NHIs require rigorous management throughout their entire existence, from creation to decommissioning.
Secure Storage: Credentials should never be hardcoded into applications or configuration files. Dedicated secrets management systems (vaults) must be used to store, protect, and dynamically inject credentials at runtime.
Rotation and Revocation: Credentials (tokens, keys, certificates) must be audited and rotated regularly, and unused or expired identities (zombie accounts) must be promptly decommissioned to prevent credential sprawl.
4. Continuous Monitoring
NHI activity must be monitored to detect anomalies and misuse.
Behavioral Baselines: Security teams must establish predictable usage patterns for each NHI and set alerts for deviations, such as access from unexpected locations or attempts to access unauthorized systems, which could signal a compromise.
By applying these strategies, organizations move from ignoring NHIs to governing them as a highly critical security asset, thereby reducing the large attack surface they represent.
ThreatNG is an extremely valuable tool for establishing and maintaining Non-Human Identity (NHI) Security because it specializes in the external, unauthenticated discovery of the exposed secrets and credentials that pose the most immediate risk to these machine identities. By focusing on what is visible to attackers, ThreatNG helps organizations prioritize mitigation and maintain a secure posture.
ThreatNG's Role in Enhancing NHI Security
External Discovery and Continuous Monitoring
ThreatNG performs purely external, unauthenticated discovery, which is the foundational methodology for finding exposed static NHI credentials (such as API keys and service account tokens) that an attacker could use. This agentless approach is critical because it identifies credentials that are outside of internal monitoring. The platform provides Continuous Monitoring of the external attack surface, ensuring that the security team is immediately alerted when a new NHI credential is accidentally exposed in a public repository or a misconfigured asset, preventing unmonitored backdoors.
External Assessment and Examples
ThreatNG provides a direct, quantifiable measure of the risk posed by poor NHI security:
Non-Human Identity (NHI) Exposure Security Rating: This critical governance metric (A–F scale) quantifies the organization's vulnerability to threats originating from high-privilege machine identities. The rating is determined by continuously assessing exposure vectors, including Sensitive Code Exposure and misconfigured Cloud Exposure.
Example: If ThreatNG discovers a publicly exposed AWS Access Key ID in a code repository or a Mailgun API Key in a configuration file, this finding instantly degrades the NHI Exposure Security Rating because these are high-privilege NHI secrets that grant unauthorized programmatic access, violating secure credential management policies.
Investigation Modules and Examples
The investigation modules provide the essential granular findings on NHI credential exposure:
Sensitive Code Exposure: This module directly addresses the insecure storage and hardcoding of credentials, a critical failure in NHI Security. The Code Repository Exposure submodule finds various exposed Access Credentials and Security Credentials in public code repositories.
Example: ThreatNG identifies a public repository containing a hardcoded PGP private key block or an SSH DSA Private Key, which are NHI secrets that should be stored securely and never exposed.
It also looks for specific cloud and API credentials, such as Google Cloud Platform OAuth, Twilio API Key, and MailChimp API Key.
Mobile Application Discovery: This module scans mobile apps for hardcoded NHI credentials.
Example: ThreatNG discovers a hardcoded Square OAuth Secret or Heroku API Key within the application content, revealing exposed NHI credentials.
NHI Email Exposure: This feature identifies and groups exposed role-based email addresses (like system, svc, devops, jenkins, and service) that are typically tied to unmonitored NHI service accounts. Example: An attacker can target a discovered
svc@company.comemail address for compromise to gain control of the associated service account.Cloud and SaaS Exposure: This module identifies the infrastructure on which NHIs operate, including Unsanctioned Cloud Services. NHI security must encompass all services, whether sanctioned or not.
Intelligence Repositories and Reporting
ThreatNG enhances NHI security by providing threat intelligence and high-certainty reporting:
Compromised Credentials (DarCache Rupture): If ThreatNG discovers an exposed NHI credential, this repository immediately checks whether the same credential has been found in dark web dumps. This linkage confirms active compromise risk, which escalates the severity of the NHI Exposure Security Rating.
Context Engine™: The engine delivers Legal-Grade Attribution, converting chaotic technical findings (such as a publicly exposed service account key) into irrefutable evidence. This certainty is crucial for justifying the immediate, high-priority remediation needed to fix a poor NHI security posture.
Reporting: The NHI Exposure Security Rating is presented clearly on the A-F scale. The Prioritized Reports (High, Medium, Low) ensure that teams focus first on the most severe and exposed NHI credentials, facilitating rapid governance action.
Complementary Solutions
ThreatNG's external NHI findings can be integrated with internal systems to enforce the core strategies of NHI security, such as secure storage and lifecycle management:
Secrets Management Solutions: When ThreatNG discovers a hardcoded credential (e.g., a Mailgun API Key), this external alert can be automatically sent to the organization's Secrets Management tool. The tool can then use this alert to revoke the exposed key and enforce the secure retrieval of the new credential from the vault, mitigating the security risk and ensuring safe storage.
Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) Tools: The discovery of a critical cloud credential leakage (e.g., AWS Access Key ID) is shared with a CIEM tool. The CIEM tool can then use this external finding to perform an authenticated internal analysis to determine the actual Privilege Level of the exposed key and automatically enforce the Principle of Least Privilege by revoking any unnecessary permissions or triggering a key rotation.
Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) Platforms: A critical alert from ThreatNG regarding a significant NHI Exposure can trigger a SOAR platform. The SOAR platform can automatically use this external finding to open a high-priority incident ticket, notify the security operations center (SOC), and initiate automated steps to quarantine the exposed code or asset, ensuring prompt governance and control.
