Getting To AWS IAM Outbound Identity Federation With GitGuardian

AWS's announcement at re:Invent 2025 introduced a significant innovation in authentication by allowing AWS workloads to obtain short-lived tokens for accessing external services, thereby eliminating the need for long-term API keys or passwords. This advancement marks a shift in how enterprises manage authentication, moving away from static credentials that pose security risks. The AWS IAM Outbound Identity Federation simplifies the process by enabling workloads to request a short-lived JSON Web Token (JWT) from AWS Security Token Service (STS), which is then verified by external services using AWS-published keys. This approach aligns with broader industry trends towards identity-based authentication and zero-trust access management, emphasizing the importance of identity as the new control plane. However, transitioning to this new model requires more than enabling technology; it demands organizational buy-in, cross-departmental coordination, and a strategic plan to manage the operational load. GitGuardian's NHI Governance platform aids in this transition by offering tools for secrets detection, vault integration, and analytics to track the migration from long-term credentials to identity federation, providing visibility into the current state of secrets and helping teams ensure that access management practices evolve securely and efficiently.