The Non-Human Identity Crisis: The Hidden Attack Surface Undermining Cyber Resilience
Modern identity attacks move fast exploiting misconfigurations, escalating privileges, and bleWhile organizations have spent years securing human identities, a far larger and more dangerous risk has emerged in the shadows: non-human identities (NHIs). From service accounts and API keys to OAuth tokens and AI agents, these machine identities now outnumber humans by as much as 144:1 yet remain largely unmanaged and unprotected.
This growing “identity blind spot” has become a prime target for attackers. Unlike human credentials, NHIs are often overprivileged, rarely rotated, and difficult to monitor—making them ideal for persistence, lateral movement, and long-term compromise.
In this eBook from Commvault, you’ll uncover how attackers exploit non-human identities to bypass traditional defenses and why securing them is critical to modern cyber resilience. Learn:
- Why non-human identities represent one of the fastest-growing attack surfaces
- How attackers pivot from human compromise to machine-level persistence
- The critical vulnerabilities unique to NHIs, including token theft and service account sprawl
- Real-world attack patterns that demonstrate the strategic value of NHIs to adversaries
- A modern framework for managing and securing NHIs as Tier 0 assets
Download the full eBook to close the identity blind spot, strengthen your security posture, and build a recovery-first approach to cyber resilience in an increasingly machine-driven world.
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