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Non-Human Identities (NHIs) like API keys, service accounts, and machine credentials are increasingly targeted by attackers. GitGuardian’s report highlights critical risks and solutions for enterprises managing NHIs.
Top 10 NHI Risks for 2025
- Improper Offboarding – Lingering NHIs become attack vectors.
- Secret Leakage – Over 80% of breaches involve stolen credentials.
- Vulnerable Third-Party NHI – Compromised vendors enable lateral movement.
- Insecure Authentication – Weak API keys expose systems.
- Overprivileged NHI – Excessive permissions violate least privilege.
- Insecure Cloud Deployment Configurations – Hardcoded secrets in CI/CD pipelines.
- Long-Lived Secrets – Non-expiring credentials allow persistent access.
- Environment Isolation Failures – Shared credentials across dev/test/prod.
- NHI Reuse – One breach compromises multiple systems.
- Human Misuse of NHI – Lack of controls enables abuse.
You Should Know: Hardening NHI Security
1. Automate Secret Rotation
Use HashiCorp Vault for dynamic secrets vault write database/roles/my-role db_name=my-db creation_statements=@./creds.sql
2. Enforce Least Privilege in AWS IAM
aws iam create-policy --policy-name NHI-Restricted --policy-document file://policy.json
3. Detect Hardcoded Secrets with GitGuardian
ggshield scan path /repo --recursive
4. Rotate Kubernetes Service Account Tokens
kubectl create token my-service-account --duration=8h
5. Audit NHI Usage in Azure
Get-AzADServicePrincipal | ForEach-Object { Get-AzRoleAssignment -ObjectId $_.Id }
6. Enforce Short-Lived Certificates
openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout nhi.key -x509 -days 7 -out nhi.crt
7. Isolate NHIs by Environment
Use Terraform workspaces terraform workspace new prod
8. Monitor NHI Activity with SIEM
Splunk query for anomalous NHI logins index=aws sourcetype=cloudtrail eventName=AssumeRole | stats count by userIdentity.principalId
9. Block Third-Party Overprivilege
GCP IAM Recommender gcloud recommender recommendations list --project=my-project --recommender=google.iam.policy.Recommender
10. Enforce MFA for NHI Access
AWS CLI MFA enforcement aws iam create-virtual-mfa-device --virtual-mfa-device-name nhi-mfa --outfile qr-code.png
What Undercode Say
NHIs are the silent weak link in modern infrastructure. Attackers increasingly exploit forgotten service accounts, leaked API keys, and overprivileged bots. Enterprises must:
– Rotate secrets aggressively (Vault, AWS Secrets Manager).
– Enforce zero-trust for machines (SPIFFE, short-lived certs).
– Monitor NHI behavior (SIEM, UEBA tools).
– Automate offboarding (SCIM, Terraform destroy).
The future of NHI security lies in autonomous remediation—AI-driven systems that revoke, reissue, and restrict NHIs in real-time.
Expected Output:
- Reduced breach risk via NHI governance.
- Automated secret rotation logs.
- Alerts on anomalous NHI usage.
Reference: GitGuardian NHI Governance
References:
Reported By: Mthomasson Nhi – Hackers Feeds
Extra Hub: Undercode MoN
Basic Verification: Pass ✅
