Modern enterprises are no longer just about human users. Behind the scenes, thousands of non-human identities—ranging from service accounts and API tokens to AI agents—operate continuously, accessing systems, moving data, and executing tasks. While these identities aren’t new, they are multiplying rapidly, often without clear ownership or security controls, creating significant blind spots for IT and security teams.

The Growing Risk of Non-Human Identities

Cloud-first architectures have accelerated the creation of background identities, many of which are automatically generated during deployments or provisioning. In some organizations, non-human identities outnumber human users by more than 80 to 1. Unfortunately, most of these accounts are over-permissioned and rarely reviewed, making them prime targets for lateral movement and privilege escalation by attackers.

AI agents add another layer of risk. Unlike traditional service accounts, AI agents act autonomously: querying data, calling APIs, and making decisions without human intervention. Most organizations lack visibility into these agents’ behaviors, lifecycle, and ownership, while persistent credentials and elevated permissions increase their attack surface.

Key Security Challenges

1. Limited Visibility – Many non-human identities operate as “shadow accounts,” created dynamically for temporary functions but never documented. Without a full inventory, security teams cannot manage or secure them effectively.
2. Over-Permissioned Accounts – To ensure uninterrupted functionality, developers often grant broad permissions to these accounts. While convenient, this violates the principle of least privilege and leaves systems exposed to exploitation.
3. Lack of Context – Traditional identity security relies on context like device, location, and network behavior. Non-human identities have none of these signals, making it difficult to distinguish between legitimate and malicious actions.
4. Orphaned Identities – When applications are retired or developers leave, associated non-human identities often remain active, creating “digital ghosts” that attackers can exploit as unmonitored entry points.

Strategies to Regain Control

Discover and Inventory All Non-Human Identities

Organizations should leverage modern identity platforms to scan cloud and on-premises environments, identify hidden tokens, unmanaged service accounts, and over-permissioned roles. A centralized, real-time inventory replaces guesswork and provides a foundation for effective governance.

Prioritize and Mitigate High-Risk Identities

Not all non-human identities carry the same risk. Teams should prioritize remediation based on access levels and permissions, applying the principle of least privilege. Automated secret rotation and access revocation help contain exposure, while “kill switches” can immediately terminate AI agent sessions if anomalous activity is detected.

Automate Lifecycle Management

Non-human identities should follow lifecycle policies similar to human accounts: creation with assigned ownership, scoped permissions, and auditable tracking, followed by automatic deprovisioning when no longer needed. This prevents orphaned accounts and reduces long-term risk.

Implement a Unified Identity Security Fabric

Fragmented systems complicate non-human identity management. A unified identity security fabric consolidates all human and non-human identities under one control plane, enabling:

• Real-time identification of identity and posture gaps
• Least-privilege access with secret rotation
• Lifecycle policy enforcement for AI agents and service accounts
• Governance of cloud services like AWS Bedrock and Amazon Q
  By managing all identities through a single framework, organizations reduce blind spots, improve response times, and shrink their attack surface.

Conclusion

AI agents and non-human identities are transforming the modern enterprise attack surface. Without clear governance, over-permissioned accounts, and proper visibility, these identities become high-value targets for attackers. By inventorying all non-human identities, applying scalable security controls, and automating governance, security teams can proactively secure their environments and prevent exploitation before it happens.

Source: https://thehackernews.com/2025/09/how-to-gain-control-of-ai-agents-and.html