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The challenge

Non-human identities without an owner

Service accounts, keys and tokens access production systems. No one is named who is accountable for them.

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The challenge

Where non-human identities without an owner become a problem

  • Account without an owner

    A service account assigned to a team or a shared mailbox has no real owner. When the auditor asks, nobody answers.

  • Access that never expires

    Service account entitlements rarely have an end date. That is exactly why they pile up as orphaned access.

  • Actions without attribution

    If three teams share one account, the log cannot tell their actions apart. The DORA RTS requires that every action can be traced to a user.

  • No successor on exit

    When the responsible person leaves, the account stays active and becomes orphaned. Disabling it instead stops a business process that nobody meant to stop.

  • Impact

    The impact of missing ownership

    Without a named person, nobody is accountable. Nobody confirms that access is still needed, and nobody revokes it once it is not.

    • No one to answer the auditor
    • Access reviews that nobody completes
    • Access remains after the purpose is gone
    • Actions cannot be traced to a user
    • Disabling the account disrupts business processes
  • Our approach

    One owner, one backup, one application

    Every non-human identity gets exactly one named owner, a backup owner and an application in the CMDB as its anchor. A succession plan defines what happens when the owner leaves.

    • Inventory with purpose, owner, target systems and last use
    • The owner is a named person, never a group
    • A backup owner is mandatory at creation
    • Ownership is time-bound and tied to access reviews
    • A three-step succession chain instead of deactivation
Without an ownerWith owner, backup owner and applicationNo ownerOwnerBackup ownerApplicationService accountCore bankingSAPDatabaseCloudWithout an ownerWith owner, backup owner and applicationNo ownerOwnerBackup ownerApplicationService accountCore bankingSAPDatabaseCloud

Results

What named owners achieve

  • Clear accountability

    For every non-human identity it is clear who certifies, suspends and transfers it. The auditor gets a name, not a department.

  • Audit-ready ownership

    Roles for granting, reviewing and revoking access are assigned and documented, as Article 21(e) of the DORA RTS requires.

  • No disruption to operations

    When an owner leaves, the non-human identity keeps running. The question of a successor escalates, and no business process has to wait.

  • Less orphaned access

    Time-bound ownership and regular confirmation surface accounts that are no longer needed, so they can be removed.

Abstract digital network icon

Approach

From inventory to succession plan

Service account1Ownerhas left2Backup ownerdeadline passed3Application ownertakes over4ManagerOwnership
  1. 01

    Inventory

    An inventory of all service accounts, technical users and AI agents with purpose, target systems and last use.

  2. 02

    Assign owners

    Every non-human identity gets a named owner, a backup owner and an application as its anchor.

  3. 03

    Define succession

    First the backup owner, then the application owner, then the manager, with a deadline. When the deadline passes, ownership moves up one level.

  4. 04

    Link to access reviews

    Ownership is time-bound and confirmed in access reviews. Owners who miss the deadline pass it to the next link in the chain.

  5. 05

    Evidence and operations

    Mapping to the DORA RTS and ongoing maintenance in IAM, so that new accounts are never created without an owner.

Ready for the next step

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