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, cloud workloads (through a workload identity), 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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