Machine Identity
A Machine Identity is a non-human identity used by an application, host, workload, or system component to authenticate or act digitally.
Definition
A Machine Identity is a type of non-human identity used by servers, services, containers, applications, scripts, or infrastructure components to communicate, authenticate, or access resources. In IAM, machine identities require governance because they can accumulate powerful access while often escaping traditional human-centric controls.
Why it matters
Machine Identities are a growing attack surface that requires the same lifecycle rigor as human identities.
The Ariovis perspective
Machine, workload and agent identities need the same fundamentals as human identities: a clear owner, controlled credentials, limited permissions, a lifecycle and traceability.
Related services
Common pitfalls
- A common pitfall is managing machine identities outside IAM governance, leading to untracked privileged access.
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