Direct Inward Dialing: +1 408 916 9393
Privileged accounts include those with any elevated level of access to the resources in a network, such as Windows domain administrators, super users, emergency accounts, and application or service accounts. One of the alarming findings from a 2020 Cybersecurity Insiders study is that privileged IT users (63%) pose the biggest insider security risk to organizations. It is a given that mismanagement of these accounts could pose a significant risk to an enterprise.
POLP can be adopted not just for regular user accounts but also for privileged users. Granting these users only the access they need to perform a specific action, and nothing more, will pay off eventually, and considerably reduce your organization’s attack surface.
Most times, the default usernames and passwords of service accounts are not changed, increasing the chances of them being targets for hackers. Accounts should not be configured with passwords that do not expire, and passwords have to be changed regularly. Furthermore, relying on passwords alone is a thing of the past. Multi-factor authentication can be used to secure privileged accounts from social engineering or brute-force attacks.
Use RBAC to grant access to those who need it while blocking those who don't. Add and switch roles quickly, and implement them globally across operating systems, platforms, and applications. Rather than using individual attributes, it is efficient to alter user access by their role. For example, if many users have admin privileges, it is much more challenging to secure and manage the assets.
Automation reduces the risk of data entry errors and increases the efficiency of role assignment. When users need additional access rights, they should follow a request-and-approval process. Upon approval from the stakeholders, user privileges can be elevated only for the time period required to perform the specified task.
To prevent privilege creep, your organization should audit privileged accounts more often than regular accounts. This can prevent users from continually accumulating new permissions as they move roles or teams within the organization. Employing monitoring tools that target privileged activities can detect wrongdoing, whether from accidental changes or malicious insiders. Using these tools, you can draw up a baseline of normal behavior, which will help identify deviations and trigger alerts in real time. This practice is also an important part of maintaining regulatory compliance. In case of a security incident, it will give you visibility into the chain of events and help your organization respond faster.
Rather than granting a user privileged access without any time limit, consider providing the necessary permissions when needed and then removing them once the purpose is served. Adoption of time-based privileged access ensures that your organization is protected against the threat of privilege misuse.
Many times, a negligent employee can cause as much damage as an external hacker or a malicious insider. Users of elevated privileges should clearly understand the rules of behavior imposed on them to limit insider threats. Since phishing and social engineering attacks are gaining traction, cybersecurity awareness among employees is a must.
Nothing is set in stone when it comes to an organization's security measures. Having a constantly evolving security policy based on the latest cyber risks is the way forward. As your organization grows or restructures, your security and risk management needs may require a revamp.
ADManager Plus is an integrated Active Directory management and reporting solution that is packed with capabilities for managing your privileged accounts easily.
Create customizable workflows that help you streamline and monitor AD tasks. With this capability, users can raise requests to access resources, which can be reviewed by a designated authority before the IT admin executes the task.
Create automated, time-bound group permissions so IT admins can assign users to specific groups and revoke their group membership after a specified period.
Access predefined reports on NTFS and share permissions so you can identify the servers and shares in your organization and verify the level of access each individual user or group has for them.
Configure deprovisioning using an automation that identifies dormant objects, removes their privileges, moves them to a different container, and revokes applicable software licenses before removing them.
