Build a stronger identity security program by mitigating machine identity risk

Author: Alex Leemon, Director, Product Marketing

Identity security has emerged as a fundamental pillar of enterprise information security. This shift has been driven by the growing recognition that identities, whether human or machine, are often the primary targets for cyber attackers. While human identities have long been a focus, securing machine identities—such as applications, services, and devices—presents a greater challenge for organizations. A recent study conducted by SailPoint indicates that 72% of identity professionals say machine identities are more difficult to manage than human identities. The difficulty is led by poor internal processes and lack of necessary identity tool functionality, which caused 66% of study respondents to report that managing machine identities require more manual steps than managing human identities.

The dynamic nature of machine identities—or more accurately, accounts—along with the lack of oversight by human owners and excessively permissive access rights across critical resources, make them potential points of vulnerability. If not properly managed and secured, these vulnerabilities can pose significant risks.

Improve machine identity visibility

In SailPoint’s study, 62% of companies surveyed said they have machine identities that are active without any visibility. While organizations have made considerable progress in managing and governing human identities, the rapid proliferation of machine accounts makes it difficult for organizations to track, manage, and protect these accounts effectively. Service accounts, for example, present visibility challenges common to all types of machine accounts. Since they typically run in the background without the interaction of a human user, these machine accounts may avoid scrutiny and oversight so long as services seem to be operating smoothly. In simple terms, you cannot protect what you cannot see.

A robust identity security program must include mechanisms to discover and classify machine accounts. Each machine account should be assigned a human owner responsible for its oversight and periodic access review. This can be a significant step towards protecting the complete landscape of identities in any environment.

Navigate a multi-vendor identity fabric

Traditionally, managing the full spectrum of identities—including human, machine, workforce, third-party, privileged, and others—involved integrating a complex stack of identity solutions. Each solution often has its architecture, framework, and scheme. Over time, this piecemeal approach has led to operational inefficiencies and security blind spots.

In today’s modern IT landscape, effective identity security requires a more holistic approach that optimizes the output of these security investments. A unified approach based on one set of workflows for automation, a robust connectivity fabric, consistent APIs, and a consistent policy framework supported by an integrated data model allows for more granular control, more actionable insights, and less operational friction.

Ultimately, a unified identity security approach can reduce the complexity and blind spots inherent in multi-tool and multi-vendor methods, enable organizations to streamline operations, reduce risks, and ensure that all identities are managed with the highest level of security and efficiency.

Make identity security work for you

The rapid proliferation of machine identities presents significant challenges and risks that should be addressed urgently. Organizations can lean on new mechanisms and emerging tools to discover, classify, and assign oversight to these identities, leveraging automation to mitigate risks and reduce manual efforts. However, the evolving identity security landscape has highlighted the critical need for a holistic approach to managing all identities, rather than individual tools or point solutions that could create additional risks. Leveraging a unified identity security framework can help streamline operations, enhance visibility, and strengthen security.

By embracing comprehensive identity security strategies, organizations can more effectively protect all identities and navigate the complexities of modern IT environments, ultimately reducing cyber risk and enhancing their overall security posture.