Smart User Access Review Options Open for You
Many companies use identity and access management (IAM) techniques like role-based access control (RBAC) and the principle of least privilege (POLP) to safeguard privileged access in their systems. But when everything is in place, what then?
Consider the number of employees who have resigned or been dismissed from your company in the last 12 months. Counting how many current employees have lately transferred roles or departments is the next stage. If you work for a large corporation, this may be in the hundreds or perhaps the thousands.
Now consider the data, programs, and infrastructure to which those employees had or have access. Some of the company’s most private and priceless information may remain in the hands of a former employee long after their job has ended. Similarly dangerous to the company are current employees who have amassed user credentials. One important step in addressing these problems is reviewing user permissions.
When is it necessary to conduct a user access review, and what does it entail?
Reviewing the permissions of all users who have access to a company’s resources on a regular basis is known as a user access review. In certain cases, this may even involve clients. Anyone from employees and business partners to customers and vendors may be a user.
An important part of tracking, managing, and auditing user accounts from the time they are created until they are deleted is conducting periodic reviews of those accounts, also known as recertification, attestation, or entitlement reviews.
A policy that outlines user access reviews in detail should be synchronised with user access review process. Preventing potential security problems by conducting regular inspections is strongly advised.
User access and the usual threats
Both the company’s reputation and economic line might take a hit if employees with the wrong level of access permissions make mistakes or fall victim to malicious assaults.
There are many situations in which users could end up with too much access, such as when they move up the corporate ladder without having their permissions updated to reflect their new position, when they resign or are let go without having their access rights revoked, when companies merge, and so on.
How to Conduct a User Access Investigation
Define your policy for managing access.
Minimum requirements for any user access control policy should always contain the following
The location data for the company’s assets. You should compile a list of all the assets in your company to which employees may have access. Everything from databases to apps to systems to networks to operating systems to data centres to individual rooms and buildings should be catalogued.
Conclusion
Find out who owns each item you’ve listed. This might include a supervisor, an administrator, or even an entire IT department. The next step is for the owners to produce a detailed inventory of the information and resources available inside their assets, which will then be mapped to roles and permissions.
