What is NHI?

NHIs, such as API keys, tokens, and encryption keys, are important for automating processes, securing connections, and accessing resources within organizations. 

NHIs may not have human characteristics, but they have their own unique identifiers, credentials, and access permissions needed to interact with the system. As a result, managing these NHIs presents unique challenges and security risks that traditional identity management solutions are ill-equipped to address.

What is NHI?

NHIs encompass the foundational elements of your organization, including service accounts, containers, cloud services, secrets, tokens, and keys. They represent digital identities associated with machines, applications, services, and other non-human entities within a networked environment. 

These identities are crucial for granting and controlling access to resources and functionalities within a system. However, despite their significance, components of NHI management often outnumber both you and your clients, leaving behind a substantial breach zone.

Why is NHI security needed?

The lifecycle of these NHIs differs significantly, as they are more dynamic, and their lifespan never truly ends. Existing cyber security tools primarily focused on human users often fall short of addressing the unique requirements of non-human entities.

Machine identity management is necessary to:

1. Enhance security: These machine identities are privileged access points and securing them is crucial for preventing unauthorized access, data breaches, and cyberattacks. You need everything from strong authentication, access management, encryption, and monitoring, to safeguard sensitive assets and mitigate security risks.
2. Ensure compliance: Regulatory frameworks, such as GDPR and PCI DSS, mandate strict control over access to sensitive data and resources. NHI management solutions assist organizations in maintaining compliance by managing and auditing NHIs’ access rights.
3. Risk management: NHIs can be subject to various risks, including insider threats, external attacks, and accidental misuse. Without proper management and oversight, these risks can undermine the integrity, availability, and confidentiality of critical systems and data.

Securing the digital ecosystem

Securing the digital ecosystem requires a comprehensive approach to managing the machine identities and access rights of non-human entities. Companies need solutions like Entro to address the unique challenges associated with secrets security.

Entro offers a complete secret detection solution tailored for security teams, designed to protect critical assets such as API keys, encryption keys, access keys, and tokens. With Entro, organizations can achieve in-depth secret visibility across all realms, including vaults, code, CI/CD pipelines, and more. Real-time monitoring and protection capabilities enable continuous secrets scanning, allowing organizations to detect anomalies and receive remediation recommendations promptly.