In the ever-evolving realm of cybersecurity, where threats loom large and breaches are a constant concern, the practice of granting always-on or standing privileges to user accounts presents an alarming vulnerability for any organization. This vulnerability is underscored by findings from Verizon’s 2023 data breach incident report, which states that 74% of all data breaches occur due to privilege misuse or stolen credentials.
How do IT admins and help desk staff effectively manage these user account privileges? What happens if these permissions go unchecked for an extended period? Wouldn’t that expose the company to significant security risks?
In these cases, periodic access review is the answer. One of the ways to achieve this is through an identity governance and administration (IGA) tool with access certification capability. An ideal access certification feature must help automate access certification processes.
What would organizations gain from regular access checks?
- Periodic access reviews ensure that users do not have standing privileges, implementing the principle of least privilege.
- Insider threats that surface due to privilege creep are thwarted.
- Compliance with mandates such as SOX, HIPPA, FISMA, and PCI DSS to minimize the risk of hefty fines.
- High operational efficiency is achieved with automated privilege checks.
How does a typical access certification campaign run?
- Admins create access certification campaigns by selecting the user permissions to be reviewed.
- These campaigns are scheduled to send out access review requests automatically at regular intervals like monthly, quarterly, etc., to ensure that they run consistently without fail.
- Certifiers can be selected specifically or assigned dynamically according to defined rules.
- Certifiers step in and validate the user access permissions.
- For an extra layer of security, self-certifications of access permissions can be restricted.
Find out how to review user access permissions with ManageEngine ADManager Plus in this guide!
