6 Essential Practices for Protecting Non-Human Identities

Secrets like API keys, passwords, and encryption keys are prime targets for malicious actors. Effectively safeguarding these credentials is crucial for maintaining the security of your infrastructure. Below are six best practices for handling and protecting such data in any organization.

1.Centralize Storage in a Secure Environment

Instead of spreading credentials throughout environment variables or hardcoding them in source code, store them in a centralized, secure location designed to safeguard sensitive information. By keeping all credentials in one dedicated environment, you can apply consistent access controls, encryption, and auditing policies.

Tip: Pairing a secure storage environment with a robust data security solution adds an additional layer of protection and helps ensure that credentials remain safe throughout their lifecycle.

2. Enforce Strong Access Controls

Restrict access to credentials based on roles and actual needs. Following the principle of least privilege ensures that users, applications, and services only have the minimum access necessary to perform their duties.

• Use granular permissions based on defined roles or attributes.

• Allow only authorized users or systems to retrieve sensitive credentials.

• Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for additional security layers, particularly for critical actions like retrieving or modifying credentials.

Note: IT security providers can help organizations implement advanced access control frameworks tailored to specific operational needs.

3. Rotate Credentials Regularly

Credentials that remain unchanged over long periods pose a significant risk. If compromised, attackers can continue to use them until they are manually revoked. To minimize risk:

• Rotate credentials on a regular schedule (preferably automated).

• Set expiration dates so credentials become invalid after a specific period.

• Take advantage of tools or scripts that can automatically update credentials and apply new ones where needed.

4. Use Short-Lived or Dynamic Credentials

Short-lived or dynamically generated credentials provide a limited window of access, reducing the potential impact if they are compromised. For example, rather than giving an application a permanent password to a database, generate temporary credentials valid only for the duration of the task.

This approach ensures that once the task is completed, the credential expires, preventing any future use.

5. Encrypt Credentials at Rest and in Transit

Encryption remains one of the strongest defenses against unauthorized access. Apply robust encryption measures both when credentials are stored and when they are transmitted across networks.

•  At Rest: Use strong algorithms (such as AES-256) to encrypt data where it is stored.

• In Transit: Protect credentials with secure communication protocols (like TLS) to prevent interception or tampering as they move between systems.

Hint: Adopting an API security platform can further enhance your ability to manage keys and tokens securely in environments where services need to communicate with each other.

6. Continuously Monitor and Audit Usage

Regularly monitoring and auditing access to sensitive credentials is vital to detect suspicious activity and ensure compliance with security policies.

• Maintain comprehensive logs of who accessed credentials and when.

• Review these logs to identify unusual behavior, such as failed login attempts or access from unexpected locations.

• Use automated alerting to receive immediate notifications about potential unauthorized access.

Conclusion

Safeguarding sensitive credentials is essential for protecting your organization’s infrastructure and data. By centralizing them in a secure environment, limiting access through strong permissions, rotating credentials frequently, using short-lived credentials, encrypting data, and auditing access, you can significantly reduce your risk. Implementing these practices—supported by a data security solution, an API security platform, and insights from IT security providers—fosters a secure foundation for your most critical systems and assets.

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