Managing machine identities has become a critical part of enterprise security. IAM platforms are no longer just about users—they now need to handle workloads, applications, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Kubernetes clusters, containers, microservices, load balancers, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. And increasingly, IAM teams are recognizing how important Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is for establishing machine-to-machine trust.
At GlobalSign, we support this shift by serving as a trusted identity authority and providing the foundations for secure, scalable machine identity management.
Machine IAM Needs Strong Trust Foundations
Gartner’s recent Innovation Insight on Machine IAM highlights a few must-haves for securing machine identities:
- Automated certificate issuance and renewal,
- Strong encryption for machine-to-machine authentication,
- Secure lifecycle management of secrets, keys, and certificates.
IAM systems are rightly evolving to embed these PKI-based capabilities. However, the foundations of trust, the certificates, key hierarchies, issuance processes, and policy controls still depend on experienced Certificate Authorities (CAs).
PKI: A Core Building Block, Not an Add-On
Some IAM vendors offer certificate management features into their platforms, few have deep expertise in operating a globally trusted PKI infrastructure. It's not just about issuing certificates, it's about ensuring:
- WebTrust audited and globally recognized root chains
- ISO-certified operations
- HIPAA-aligned practices for sensitive environments
- Rigorous identity validation
- Strong policy enforcement and revocation processes
Policy control in particular is a key concern for IT and security teams. PKI gives you the tools to define, enforce, and audit how machine credentials are issued, used, and retired, helping you meet both internal security policies and external compliance obligations.
Seamless Integration: The Best of Both Worlds
Building and maintaining an internal CA is resource-intensive and hard to scale securely. That’s why more IAM providers are integrating with CAs, such as GlobalSign, instead of going it alone.
It’s a win for customers, who get:
- The automation, orchestration, and identity governance of their IAM systems
- With the proven trust, policy control, and compliance strength of a global CA
GlobalSign offers that through platforms; such as Atlas our Digital Identity Platform, Certificate Automation Manager and IoT Edge Enroll for scalable machine identity issuance. Whether you're managing short-lived certs for DevOps, integrating with cloud-native apps, or securing IoT devices, we have solutions that fit.
And beyond just certificates, we support our customers by offering a holistic set of tools and services that enable them to securely manage both human and machine identities.
Preparing for the Machine Identity Future
Machine identities already outnumber human identities and the gap is growing rapidly. Whether it's authenticating containers, APIs, IoT devices, or AI-driven workflows, enterprises need trusted, automated PKI to secure the fabric of digital interactions.
IAM systems can and should integrate PKI as a critical enabler. And we will continue focusing on what we do best: delivering strong, globally trusted identities at scale.
Contact us today to talk about your machine identity management needs.
