The automation has used the managing director's Microsoft login for months. Then she changes her password, a security policy is tightened or she leaves. The workflow stops. Worse, every action in the audit trail looks as if the person performed it herself.
Where the connected systems allow it, an AI agent should use a distinct technical identity. This does not pretend the machine is an employee. It makes its access separately grantable, traceable and revocable.
One identity answers four operational questions
| Question | Personal login | Technical identity |
|---|---|---|
| Who acted? | Human and automation are mixed | Agent action is attributable |
| What can it do? | Often inherits the person's rights | Receives narrow scopes |
| How is it stopped? | Disable the employee account | Revoke only the agent |
| What happens at offboarding? | The integration breaks or is forgotten | The process owner retains control |
A service account is not a free pass
Separation improves attribution. It does not protect an account with admin rights, a permanent secret and no owner. A scheduling agent may need to read availability and create tentative appointments. It probably does not need to delete existing events. The workshop manager can retain broader rights without lending them to the automation.
- Name a business owner and a technical owner.
- Grant only the systems and actions the workflow needs.
- Test token expiry, rotation and revocation rather than assuming they work.
- Include personal integration connections in employee offboarding.
- Document a break-glass path without maintaining a permanent super-account.
The fastest audit starts on paper
List every live automation and the identity it uses. If the same personal account appears five times, that is a concrete clean-up target. Only then inspect whether each platform supports service accounts, app identities or narrower OAuth scopes.
Our guide to permissions and audit logs covers what an agent may do. The agent inventory records where it runs. A dedicated identity joins the two by making that inventory entry technically stoppable.
If a vendor offers no separate identity, document the compromise: use a dedicated integration account where possible, minimise its rights, assign an owner and record the dependency. Hidden shared credentials are not a design.
Sources
FAQ
What is a machine identity?
It is an account or app identity used by an automation, separate from an employee's personal login.
Does every SaaS product support service accounts?
No. Some provide app registrations or integration accounts; others rely on personal OAuth connections. Record that limitation explicitly.
Is a separate account enough?
No. It still needs narrow rights, token controls, monitoring, an owner and a tested revocation path.
How often should access be reviewed?
After material workflow or staffing changes and on a recurring schedule appropriate to the risk.