In a nutshell: Machine identities are a preferred attack target because they are often underprotected; structured inventory management, rotation, and monitoring significantly reduce risk.
Attackers increasingly target non-human cloud identities (service accounts, API keys, certificates) to gain access to internal systems. This represents a growing threat that requires specific defensive measures.
Machine identities are access credentials used by applications, services, and automation processes – not by human users. These include API keys, service accounts, SSH keys, and digital certificates. These are often more weakly protected than user passwords and are frequently not rotated over extended periods, making them attractive targets for attackers.
The current threat landscape shows that hackers are deliberately searching for these non-human identities. They use them as an entry point to move deeper into cloud infrastructures and access sensitive systems – often without triggering traditional IAM systems.
Ontinue identifies five concrete protective measures: first, inventory of all machine identities; second, regular rotation of these credentials according to predefined intervals; third, minimization of permissions (least-privilege principle); fourth, continuous monitoring and logging of their use; and fifth, segmentation of network and cloud environments to make lateral movement more difficult.
Source: itwelt.at · Published 24 July 2026
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