Machine identities—service accounts, devices, applications, bots, and now AI agents—are rapidly multiplying, outpacing human users by an order of magnitude. These NHIs underpin global IT infrastructure, from workloads and pipelines to operational technology, but they also introduce unique risks: fragmented visibility, unmanaged credentials, and poor governance across cloud and on-premises assets.
In this episode, Alex Leemon and Lalit Choda (Mr. NHI) lay out why most organizations underestimate the scale and complexity of their NHI landscape. Lalit describes two main types: legacy credentials (passwords, API keys, tokens) and modern identity objects (OAuth, roles, SVIDs). He details how hyper-distributed cloud, SaaS, and containerized environments have accelerated NHI proliferation, while lack of inventory and oversight leads to "secret sprawl" and exposure.
