Guarding Against Cyber Threats: Protecting SMBs from Unmonitored Nonhuman Identities

Why Do Small and Medium-Sized Businesses Utilize Nonhuman Identities?

Most SMBs have some level of control and oversight over their human identities. However, nonhuman identities are also essential for enabling communication between different services and entities within IT environments, as highlighted by Mouallem.

When employees log in, they access authorized resources tied to their identity. Similarly, nonhuman identities like service accounts and API keys require access to perform their functions, making them indispensable for the operation of modern solutions across industries.

According to Delinea, modern IT environments typically have 46 nonhuman identities for every human identity. This means that a business with 200 employees could have up to 9,200 nonhuman identities facilitating communications in the background.

While nonhuman identities play a crucial role in automating workflows, their credentials are often not updated within recommended time frames, as indicated by Delinea’s research.

DIVE DEEPER: Learn more about how identity and access management is evolving in complex IT environments.

How Do Nonhuman Identities Increase the Attack Surface for SMBs?

For SMBs, especially those with 200 or more employees, interactions with third-party entities like customers, contractors, and vendors can expand their attack surface by exposing nonhuman identities. This exposure creates potential access points for malicious actors to exploit.

CrowdStrike highlights the risk posed by under-secured nonhuman identities, especially given their prevalence in modern organizations. With numerous nonhuman identities in use, it’s easy for them to be overlooked in security strategies, leading to a higher risk of unauthorized access.

Discover more about the importance of securing nonhuman identities to prevent unauthorized access.