Can You Fully Control Your NHIs? – Source: securityboulevard.com

Is Your Organization Truly in Control of its Non-Human Identities?

The increasing complexity of cyber interactions has necessitated a shift in our approach to security. One area that is often overlooked in traditional security models is the management of Non-Human Identities (NHIs). This critical aspect of access control plays a crucial role. Now, ask yourself, are you truly in control?

NHIs, essentially machine identities, function as the backbone of many critical processes. Whether it comes to authorizing access to sensitive data, managing digital transactions, or enabling machine-to-machine communication, the role of NHIs is pervasive and paramount. Yet, without the right management and oversight, these identities can present a significant security gap.

Understanding NHI: The Tourist and the Passport

Ever wondered how NHIs operate? It’s quite similar to how a tourist would interact in a foreign country. An NHI, just like a tourist, needs a unique identifier (a passport in this context) that takes the form of an encrypted password, token, or key. This ‘secret’ is then coupled with permissions (akin to the visa) granted by the destination server.

The challenge is in securing both the identities and their access credentials, while also monitoring their behaviors within the system. This process goes beyond traditional secret scanning solutions, as it requires a holistic approach to security. From discovery and classification to threat detection and remediation, every lifecycle stage needs attention.

Realizing the Value of Effective NHI Management

Effective NHI management delivers significant benefits, including:

– Reduced Risk: Proactively identifying and mitigating security risks reduces the likelihood of breaches and data leaks.
– Improved Compliance: NHI management enforces policies and provides audit trails, helping organizations meet regulatory requirements.
– Increased Efficiency: Automation of NHIs and secrets management allows security teams to focus on strategic initiatives.
– Enhanced Visibility and Control: A centralized view for access management and governance provides better insights.
– Cost Savings: Operational costs are minimized by automating secrets rotation and NHI decommissioning.

These tangible benefits underscore the strategic value of NHI management for organizations across various verticals. Be it healthcare, financial services, travel, or DevOps, NHI management is a critical aspect of their cloud security control.

The Strategic Approach Towards NHI Management

The journey towards effective NHI management begins with understanding that it is not a one-off task, but a continuous process. It’s crucial to take a strategic approach that includes creating a secure cloud environment by bridging the disconnect between security and R&D teams.

While the complexity of NHIs and secrets management may be daunting, several tools and platforms can provide crucial insights into ownership, permissions, usage patterns, and potential vulnerabilities. Further, they also provide a context-aware security framework that leads towards improved access control.

Incorporating NHI Management into Your Cybersecurity Strategy

Although NHI management may appear complicated, it is not an option but a necessity. By incorporating it into your cybersecurity strategy, your organization can gain far-reaching control over cloud security.

The use of cloud technologies continues to increase, and need for effective NHI management will only become more pronounced. Thereby, ensuring fully functional and secure cloud environments while fostering improvements in accessibility and efficiency.

Now, as you reevaluate your organizations’ cybersecurity strategy, remember to think beyond human identities. Recognize the importance of NHIs and enforce robust systems to manage them effectively. By doing so, you can truly say that you are in control of your Non-Human Identities.

Cloud Security Demands a Fully Integrated Approach

Indeed, dealing with a myriad of software applications, containers, and microservices, the number of NHIs to manage can multiply quickly. This increase in scale requires businesses to adopt a comprehensive approach to the management of NHIs. Therefore, a siloed or standalone approach to secrets management won’t suffice, and an integrated method becomes indispensable.

Relying on Automated Solutions for NHI Management

Given the escalating complexity and volume of NHIs, manual processes simply aren’t feasible. The use of automated solutions for managing NHIs and secrets play a vital role in maintaining organization’s cloud security control. Automating the lifecycle stages, right from discovery to remediation, enables businesses to handle the increasing scale while keeping the security risks at bay. It frees up the security teams to focus on more strategic initiatives, thereby offering significant advantages in operational efficiency.

Crafting a Collaborative Yet Secure Environment

On one side, the management of NHIs obligates a hardened security posture, but on the other, it also entails a collaboration between different teams. Collaboration across security and R&D teams is crucial to foster a strategic approach towards NHI management. It involves creating policies, setting up permissions, and managing access in a manner that promotes secure and efficient cooperation.

Optimizing Security through Context-Aware Controls

Modern NHI management platforms go beyond simple policy enforcement and access control. They incorporate context-aware controls that take into account factors like ownership, permissions, usage patterns, and potential vulnerabilities. These platforms provide valuable insights that enable teams to recognize patterns of abuse or misuse, track anomalies, and implement effective preventive and corrective measures in a timely manner.

Securing the Future of Cybersecurity

As Jason Haward-Grau, the former CISO of KPMG, aptly stated, “We can’t build walls high enough to keep out every threat.” Organizations must be proactive and vigilant in their cybersecurity measures. This includes adopting comprehensive and robust NHI management.

Where the use of cloud technologies and machine-to-machine interactions continue to grow, NHI management is no longer a choice but a strategic imperative. A thorough understanding and effective management of NHIs form the foundation of a mature and proactive cybersecurity strategy.

Before signing off, consider again: What steps is your organization taking for effective NHI management? Do you truly have control over your Non-Human Identities? With the strategic importance of NHI management coming to the fore, it’s time to reassess your organization’s cybersecurity practices. Remember that the management of NHIs and secrets is paramount to maintaining a secure cloud environment. So, make sure to elevate your organization’s cybersecurity strategy that focuses on these critical components, creating an efficient and secure cloud setting.

Finally, to delve deeper into the topic of NHI management and its importance in cybersecurity, consider exploring these Tips on Non-Human Identity Security in SAAS and Guidelines for Implementing NHI Security Protocols.

Remember, the devil is in the detail. And those ‘little details’ often go beyond human identities, down to the level of Non-Human Identities.

The post Can You Fully Control Your NHIs? appeared first on Entro.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Entro authored by Amy Cohn. Read the original post at: https://entro.security/can-you-fully-control-your-nhis/