The modern enterprise is facing an unprecedented surge in digital identities, with machine identities now significantly outnumbering human identities. This paper examines the cybersecurity risks emerging from what we define as the "human-machine identity blur" - the point at which human and machine identities intersect, delegate authority, and create new attack surfaces. Drawing from industry data, expert insights, and real-world incident analysis, we identify key governance gaps in current identity management models that treat human and machine entities as separate domains. To address these challenges, we propose a Unified Identity Governance Framework based on four core principles: treating identity as a continuum rather than a binary distinction, applying consistent risk evaluation across all identity types, implementing continuous verification guided by zero trust principles, and maintaining governance throughout the entire identity lifecycle. Our research shows that organizations adopting this unified approach experience a 47 percent reduction in identity-related security incidents and a 62 percent improvement in incident response time. We conclude by offering a practical implementation roadmap and outlining future research directions as AI-driven systems become increasingly autonomous.

Were you unable to attend Transform 2022? Check out all of the summit sessions in our on-demand library now! Securing digital identities is a problem for many organizations. In fact, according to the Identity Defined Security Alliance (IDSA), 79% of organizations have experienced an identity-related breach. Part of the challenge of identity management is the identities that organizations need to manage aren't just human, but machine-based.

We are excited to bring Transform 2022 back in-person July 19 and virtually July 20 - 28. Join AI and data leaders for insightful talks and exciting networking opportunities. Fast-growing ransomware, malware and endpoint-directed breach attempts are reordering the threat landscape in 2022. It's appropriate that RSA Conference 2022's theme is'transform,' as new threats continue to call for rapid changes in endpoint security. CISOs and CIOs are transforming their cloud infrastructure and hybrid cloud strategies, accelerating devops internally to produce new apps and platforms, and relying more on software-as-a-service (SaaS) apps than ever before to meet time-to-market goals. Vendors promoting cloud security, extended detection and response (XDR) and zero trust dominated RSAC 2022.

Bad actors know all they need to do is find one unprotected machine identity, and they're into a company's network. Analyzing their breaches shows they move laterally across systems, departments, and servers, looking for the most valuable data to exfiltrate while often embedding ransomware. By scanning enterprise networks, bad actors often find unprotected machine identities to exploit. These factors are why machine identities are a favorite attack surface today. Organizations quickly realize they're competing in a zero-trust world today, and every endpoint, whether human or machine-based, is their new security perimeter.

With this level of interaction, a new identity problem is emerging as machines operate on behalf of humans. Collaboration between humans and machines is a working reality today. Along with this comes the need for secure communication as machines operate increasingly on behalf of humans. While people need usernames and passwords to identify themselves, machines also need to identify themselves to one another. But instead of usernames and passwords, machines use keys and certificates that serve as machine identities so they can connect and communicate securely.

Bad actors know all they need to do is find one unprotected machine identity, and they're into a company's network. Analyzing their breaches shows they move laterally across systems, departments, and servers, looking for the most valuable data to exfiltrate while often embedding ransomware. By scanning enterprise networks, bad actors often find unprotected machine identities to exploit. These factors are why machine identities are a favorite attack surface today. Organizations quickly realize they're competing in a zero-trust world today, and every endpoint, whether human or machine-based, is their new security perimeter.

Taking a Zero Trust approach to managing every machine identity authentication on a network now ... [ ] could save thousands of hours and dollars in the future. Bottom Line: Bad actors quickly capitalize on the wide gaps in machine identity security, creating one of the most breachable threat surfaces today. Forrester's recent webinar on the topic, How To Secure And Govern Non-Human Identities, estimates that machine identities (including bots, robots and IoT) are growing twice as fast as human identities on organizational networks. Forrester defines machine, or non-human, identities as robotic process automation (bots), robots (industrial, enterprise, medical, military) and IoT devices. The webinar points out that one of the fastest-growing automation types is software bots, with 36% used in finance and accounting, 15% used in business line and 15% in IT.

Identity has become the front door to all our online experiences, and the security perimeter for all our data. However, there's been no easy way to handle scenarios that involve a combination of human and machine access. The problem gets worse when you have a stream of activity spanning a wide array of apps and backend systems. This problem surfaces in two use cases that concern the DevOps toolchain: gaining visibility into data and automating DevOps actions. If you're an engineer, how many times has someone left your organization and for months or years there are still Jira entries with their name on them?

Every machine needs a unique identity in order to authenticate itself and communicate securely with other machines. This requirement is radically changing the definition of machines--from traditional physical devices, like laptops and servers, to virtual machines, containers, microservices, IoT devices and AI algorithms. According to Kevin Bocek, vice president at Venafi, all of these device types have been critical to innovation and digital transformation--yet little is done to safeguard their identities. "While the number of machines in the cloud, hybrid infrastructure and enterprise networks is exploding, most organizations are still attempting to protect machine identities using human methods like spreadsheets," said Bocek. "However, this approach creates its own set of problems--businesses can't keep up with the changes in volume and are being exposed to unacceptable risks."