The Imperative of Enterprise Secrets Management in Non-Human Identity Governance
In an era marked by rapid digital transformation, the emphasis on effective identity and access management (IAM) has never been more critical. Traditionally, IAM has focused on human users, establishing a comprehensive framework for onboarding, system access, and subsequent offboarding. These processes are supported by a well-defined set of practices and governance policies, ensuring a secure and efficient management of human identities within organizations.
However, the landscape has shifted dramatically. Non-human identities (NHIs) have emerged as a crucial component of digital ecosystems, now exceeding the number of human identities by an astonishing ratio of 50 to 1, and estimates project that by 2025, this ratio could reach 100 to 1. This unprecedented growth has led organizational leaders to reevaluate their approach to identity governance, particularly regarding NHIs.
A significant area of concern within NHI management revolves around credential management. Authentication remains paramount for NHIs—each requires a secure method for authenticating itself within systems. To address this, experts have developed the Secrets Management Maturity Model, which details the progress organizations make in securing their credentials.
The model introduces four distinct levels of maturity regarding secrets management, and organizations typically evolve from Level 0, where there are negligible controls, to Level 4—a stage where advanced strategies, including the automation of credential management and the removal of hardcoded credentials, become standard practice. At Level 4, organizations actively seek to minimize their reliance on traditional credentials, opting instead for alternative authentication methods.
At Level 0, organizations often lack any form of secrets security, relying on simplistic measures such as ENV files communicated in plain text. Frequently, plaintext credentials find their way into the source code, leading to heightened vulnerabilities. As organizations progress to Levels 1 and 2, they start recognizing the importance of managing these secrets. Tools embedded within cloud platforms like AWS or Azure gain traction here, allowing for the encryption and secure storage of secrets. Nevertheless, the rotation and remediation of these credentials often remain manual and reactive.
When reaching Levels 2 and 3, organizations adopt centralized vault systems like HashiCorp Vault or CyberArk’s Conjure for more effective secret management. At this stage, automation plays a critical role, particularly in credential rotation, and developer involvement becomes essential in implementing remediative actions.
Despite establishing a robust secrets management framework, organizations must broaden their understanding of NHI governance. Merely focusing on the secure storage and retrieval of secrets is insufficient; comprehensively managing the entire life cycle, ownership, and associated risks of NHIs is necessary. Essential to this process is effectively cataloging all secrets that exist within an organization and understanding their functionalities.
Once companies have identified their secrets, it becomes crucial to implement a centralized system capable of tracking these credentials. An efficient secret management platform not only records the creation and rotation of an NHI’s credentials but also monitors permissions, records usage, and audits credential decommissioning. This comprehensive oversight is fundamental before establishing broader governance policies.
The question of ownership also looms large within NHI governance strategies. The debate continues regarding which party should assume responsibility for NHIs—the developer who introduces the machine identity, the DevOps or Platform team utilizing the secret, or the security team responsible for incident responses. Currently, there is no universal consensus; organizations must navigate this issue independently, informed by the data and insights available within their systems.
As organizations aim to account for NHIs within the overall IAM landscape, they are witnessing a growing trend. As the NHI tooling market continues to expand in response to this changing landscape, organizations must embrace the complexity of global lifecycle management for NHIs. The task at hand will demand significant collaboration across departments—these responsibilities cannot rest solely with Security, IT, or DevOps alone.
In conclusion, the evolution of IAM to encompass non-human identities is not merely a passing trend but a necessity for securing modern enterprises. Leaders must recognize the critical role that effective secrets management plays in this transition. By fostering a collaborative approach and leveraging sophisticated management strategies, organizations can navigate the complexities of identity governance, ultimately enhancing security and resilience in an increasingly digitized world.