Non-human identities, machines, bots, and AI in cybersecurity

The article highlights the rising cybersecurity risks from non-human identities (NHIs) like bots, machines, and AI agents that access systems without human input. It outlines threats such as credential theft, privilege misuse, and orphaned identities, and stresses the need for strong identity and access management practices. Bot mitigation techniques include behavioral analytics, device fingerprinting, and privileged access controls. AI plays a dual role—enhancing security through automation, anomaly detection, and predictive analytics, while also posing new threats due to its ability to generate sophisticated attacks.

Non-human identities, machines, bots, and AI agents, it all sounds like science fiction, but it is not. AI has made its touchdown and increased the need for cybersecurity improvements across all organizations of all industries and sizes.

In this article, we discuss how to secure these entities as they access systems, execute tasks, and manage against exploitation.

Non-human identity management

A non-human identity (NHI) refers to any machine, application, service, software element, network resource, or automated process that must authenticate itself to access systems or data without human involvement.

Non-human identity management becomes a real challenge when operating in hybrid environments; cloud and on-prem, increasing attack vectors and management complexity.

Typical threats targeting NHIs

  1. Credential theft – coded API keys, tokens, or certs may leak.
  2. Privilege escalation – improper permissions can lead to serious misuse.
  3. Token hijacking – stolen tokens allow impersonation.
  4. Supply-chain attacks – third-party NHIs can open backdoors.
  5. Orphaned NHIs – undetected, unused identities lying around become easy targets.
Source: One Identity

Machine identity management

Machine identity management involves the methods and tools used to identify, control, protect, and validate the digital credentials that machines rely on to interact with one another.

Source: One Identity

Use cases for machine identities across the enterprise

  • VM-managed identities: VMs authenticate to databases or storage without hard-coded credentials for machines.
  • ML workloads: Containers/functions use identities to access models and APIs securely.
  • CI/CD pipelines: Tools securely pull/push code and configurations.
  • IoT devices: Unique identities ensure legitimacy in large-scale deployments

Best practices to manage bots

Bot mitigation

Bot mitigation, in cybersecurity, refers to the methods organizations use to identify and prevent harmful bots from impacting websites, applications, or networks.

Core Bot‑Mitigation Techniques

  • Embed JS tests in pages (login, payments) as user challenges; real browsers pass, simple bots often fail
  • Track device and session behavior using UBA (user behavior analytics), such as login patterns or resource access, to flag anomalies
  • Use environmental indicators (OS, browser, screen size) to build fingerprints that differentiate bots, aka ‘device fingerprinting.’
  • Secure bot credentials, rotate them regularly, and monitor bot usage for suspicious activity with PAM security (privileged access management solutions).

Best Practices for Bot Management

  • Rate limiting: Limit requests per IP/session.
  • Layered authentication: Use MFA and risk-based evaluation.
  • Allowlist trusted bots: Safely permit known non-malicious bots.
  • Training & awareness: Educate teams to recognize bot-related anomalies.
  • Threat intelligence feeds: Leverage external data on malicious bot networks

AI in cybersecurity

AI is no longer a matter of fiction, it is very real, and so is the threat of AI in cybersecurity. Many cybersecurity companies have implemented AI solutions to stay ahead of the curve and provide the best AI-based cybersecurity solutions to their customers.

While AI in cybersecurity solutions doesn’t guarantee safety of AI threats; by filling critical talent gaps, automating threat detection, and strengthening defense against increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks, any organization can improve its security posture long enough to detect and prevent massive attacks.

Key Insights

Bridging the Skills Gap

AI helps mitigate the global shortage of cybersecurity professionals by automating repetitive tasks, accelerating incident response, and enhancing decision-making with contextual intelligence. Organizations can scale security without proportionally scaling headcount.

Bot vs. Bot: The New Cyber Battlefield

Cybersecurity is increasingly a war of bots—malicious bots launch automated attacks, while defensive AI bots counter them in real-time. AI minimizes dwell time, reduces human intervention, and enables predictive threat modeling to pre-empt attacks.

Predictive vs. Generative AI

Knowing the difference between predictive AI and generative AI is crucial. Predictive AI forecasts threats and behaviors using patterns in historical data. In contrast, generative AI can create new attack strategies or simulate realistic phishing attempts. Combining both unlocks powerful capabilities for threat hunting and deception detection.

AI’s Evolving Role in Identity Security

From behavior-based anomaly detection to dynamic access policies, AI plays a central role in modern identity security. It supports Zero Trust principles by continuously evaluating risk and adapting authentication methods in real-time.

One Identity AI Solutions for a unified identity security

One Identity’s AI-driven identity security solution integrates advanced machine learning into identity governance and solutions specifically built for privileged accounts and administrators (privileged access management).

It offers predictive analytics, intelligent access decisions, and continuous monitoring — all within a unified identity security platform. This not only boosts operational efficiency but also proactively protects against evolving threats.

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