#{ item.name }
#{ truncateText(item.metadescription) }
Key Highlights
- Non-Human Identities - bots, APIs, service accounts and AI agents - now outnumber human identities by up to 50 to 1
- 95% of machine identities are over-privileged, and fewer than 6% of organisations have full visibility into them
- Hard-coded credentials, unmonitored service accounts and forgotten API keys are common attacker entry points
- PAM's core capabilities - credential vaulting and rotation, least privilege, and visibility - extend naturally to NHIs
- Traditional PAM was designed for human admins; modern PAM must integrate with cloud, containers, CI/CD pipelines and APIs for real-time discovery
- Every service account, script and bot needs a defined owner and lifecycle, integrated with broader identity governance
What this means:
Non-Human Identities now vastly outnumber human users, and most are over-privileged and invisible to security teams. Modern Privileged Access Management extends the proven principles of credential control, least privilege and visibility from human admins to machines, bots, service accounts and AI agents - giving organisations a single governed vault for every identity that holds privileged access.
In today's digital enterprise, not every identity belongs to a person. Machines, bots, APIs, service accounts, and AI agents - known collectively as Non-Human Identities (NHIs) - now outnumber human identities by up to 50 to 1. Each of these identities has access to systems, data, and resources, often with more privilege than is necessary. We are seeing machine identities multiply faster than most organisations can track, where risk quietly builds.
At Intragen, we believe this shift demands a rethink of Privileged Access Management (PAM). The same principles that secure human admins must now extend to the machines that keep modern business running. Every connection, bot, or script now acts as its own identity. But who's managing them?
How Big Is the Non-Human Identity Problem?
Recent research highlights the urgency:
- 95% of machine identities are over-privileged, and fewer than 6% of organisations claim full visibility into them.
- 98% of security professionals report that identities - human and non-human - are multiplying rapidly, largely due to automation and cloud adoption.
Each unmanaged identity represents a potential attack path. Hard-coded credentials, unmonitored service accounts, and forgotten API keys can all become hidden entry points for attackers.
Unlike human users, these machine identities rarely undergo regular audits or lifecycle reviews. They can persist unnoticed, operating with excessive access long after their purpose has ended. Even mature security teams are surprised when they see how many non-human credentials are running in the background. These often have privileged access no-one remembers granting in the first place.
How Does PAM Help Secure Non-Human Identities?
PAM is built on three core capabilities that directly enhance Non-Human Identity security, giving you a single, governed vault for every identity:
- Credential control: PAM vaults and rotates credentials automatically, reducing the risk of exposure from hard-coded or static secrets.
- Least privilege: Access can be limited to only what each system or service needs, cutting down standing privileges.
- Visibility and accountability: PAM gives organisations the ability to see, audit and monitor what their privileged accounts - human or otherwise - are doing.
These capabilities reduce the window of opportunity for attackers, close visibility gaps, and help enforce governance across all privileged accounts.
How Must PAM Evolve for Non-Human Identities?
Traditional PAM tools were designed for administrators, not automation pipelines. NHIs are more dynamic: they appear, interact and disappear automatically in seconds. To stay effective, PAM must integrate seamlessly with modern environments - cloud, containers, CI/CD pipelines and APIs - and support real-time discovery and policy enforcement.
Equally vital is ownership. Every service account, script or bot should have a defined owner and lifecycle. Integrating PAM with broader identity governance tools ensures NHIs are created, reviewed, and retired responsibly.
What Does PAM for NHIs Look Like in Practice?
Consider a global organisation overwhelmed by thousands of machine accounts. Credentials are hard-coded, roles unclear, and security teams can't distinguish active from obsolete. After extending PAM to cover NHIs, they centralise credentials, automate rotation, and monitor all privileged activity. Within six months, their over-privileged accounts drop by 70%, audits take half the time, and the risk of lateral movement through forgotten credentials is dramatically reduced.
This is what happens when PAM evolves from a tool for human admins to a foundation for all identity security.
Why Does PAM for NHIs Matter for Zero Trust?
The boundaries between human and machine identity are blurring. Securing only people is no longer enough. Modern PAM, when extended to NHIs, strengthens visibility, reduces privilege sprawl and helps organisations achieve genuine zero trust.
We see PAM not just as a product, but as a principle - one that must adapt to safeguard every identity with access, human or otherwise. Our Managed Privileged Access service, helps you to secure your organisation and utilise visibility as the first step to control.