Overview
Unlike user accounts, which represent people, service accounts are intended for non-human entities. They allow an application running on a cloud instance or in a container to authenticate and authorize itself to access other resources (like a database or a storage bucket) without needing human credentials.
Key Features
- Non-Interactive: Not intended for logging into a console or dashboard.
- Key Management: Often use public/private key pairs for authentication.
- Scoped Permissions: Can be granted specific roles and permissions just like a user account.
Importance
Essential for building secure, automated cloud applications and microservices.