Impact Of Robotic Process Automation (rpa) On Identity And Access...

As enterprises refine their strategies for handling Non-Human Identities (NHIs), Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has become a powerful tool for streamlining operations and enhancing security. However, since RPA bots have varying levels of access to sensitive information, enterprises must be prepared to mitigate a variety of challenges. In large organizations, bots are starting to outnumber human employees, and without proper identity lifecycle management, these bots increase security risks. RPA impacts Identity and Access Management (IAM) by managing bot identities, enforcing least-privilege access and ensuring auditability across all accounts.

Continue reading to learn more about RPA, its challenges with IAM and best practices organizations should follow to secure RPA within IAM.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) uses bots to automate repetitive tasks that are traditionally performed by human users. In the context of IAM, RPA plays an essential role in streamlining the user lifecycle, including provisioning, deprovisioning and secure access to credentials. These RPA bots act as NHIs and require governance just as human users do for authentication, access controls and privileged session monitoring. As RPA adoption grows, IAM systems must consistently manage both human identities and NHIs within a unified security framework. Here are the key benefits of RPA:

As organizations scale their use of RPA, several challenges emerge that can weaken the efficiency of existing IAM strategies, including bot management, larger attack surfaces and integration difficulties.

RPA bots are taking on more critical tasks across enterprises, and managing their identities and access becomes a top priority. Unlike human users, bots work silently in the background but still require authentication and authorization. Without appropriate identity governance, improperly monitored bots can create security gaps within an organization's IAM. A common problem is how bots store credentials, often embedding hardcoded passwords or API keys in scripts or configuration files.

Each RPA bot has a new NHI, and each NHI introduces a potential attack vector for cybercriminals to exploit. Without strictly enforcing the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP), bots may be overprovisioned with access that exceeds their needs for repetitive tasks. If compromised, bots can be used to move laterally within a network or exfiltrate sensitive data. Securing bots' privileged access and managing their creden

Source: The Hacker News