TechnologyAugust 17, 2026

ephemeral

uh-FEM-er-uhl

Definition

Lasting for a very short time; in computing, referring to resources or identities that are temporary, automatically created, and disposed of quickly.

Etymology

Derived from the Greek word 'ephēmeros', meaning 'lasting only a day,' which originally described short-lived insects or flowers before expanding to general use for anything temporary.

In the news

The article uses the term to describe workload identities that exist only for the duration of a task, which makes them difficult to track compared to permanent human accounts.

Managing AI Agent Identity and Access at Scale | Kovrr

Read the full article ↗

Security Boulevard

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