Machine identity management focuses on the machines connected to and accessing resources on a network. It aids in providing network authentication and authorization to machine entities and endpoints -- internet of things devices, servers, applications and workloads - across on-premises, multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments.

The concept of identity, for many types of IT operations and applications, is critical to understanding a user or an entity. A machine, from an identity perspective, is a non-human entity. Traditional identity and access management (IAM) governed the identities of users as a function of granting proper access rights based on the user. At times, machine identity is part of a large IAM system that manages both human and non-human identities.

A machine identity is a unique descriptor for a device provided via digital credentials, such as a digital certificate that uses cryptographic keys to verify a specific entity. Machine identity management is an ongoing process that begins with discovery and features ongoing governance and protection as part of its lifecycle, which continues with renewal or ends with revocation.