Employees should only be given access necessary for their assigned roles. This is a cybersecurity best practice known ...
Employees should only be given access necessary for their assigned roles. This is a cybersecurity best practice known as "least privilege access." So that's what it means, let's explore why it's so important and how it increases your organization's security posture.
When it comes to cybersecurity, one of the fundamental principles that businesses should adhere to is the concept of Least Privilege Access. This principle dictates that individuals within an organization should only be granted access to the resources and information necessary to perform their specific job functions, and nothing more.
Enhanced Security:
By implementing Least Privilege Access, businesses can significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive data and systems. Limiting user permissions to only what is essential minimizes the potential impact of a security breach. Even if a user account is compromised, the damage that can be done is limited due to the restricted access rights. If someone in your organization's account is breached and they only have access to a few files that don't contain sensitive data, you can change their passwords and move on with life. On the other hand, if that same employee has access to financial data, HR paperwork, client information, and they get hacked, you now have a major problem on your hands. While sometimes depending on the role that is unavoidable, we find that a lot of times, employees are set up to have access to files that they simply do not need.
Mitigating Insider Threats:
Insider threats, whether intentional or accidental, pose a significant risk to businesses. By adhering to the principle of Least Privilege Access, organizations can mitigate the risk of insider threats by ensuring that employees only have access to the information and systems necessary for their roles. This reduces the likelihood of data leaks, intentional misuse, or accidental exposure of sensitive data. If an employee leaves on bad terms and they want to intentionally harm your organization, they can use the information they have been given access to against your company. And even if they don't have malintent, accidental breaches occur all of the time. According to CompTIA, a staggering 95% of data breaches are caused by human error. So even without being malicious, insider threats are still a huge concern and need to be proactively mitigated.
Compliance and Regulatory Requirements:
Many industries have strict compliance and regulatory requirements regarding data security and privacy. Implementing Least Privilege Access helps businesses meet these requirements by demonstrating a proactive approach to access control. By restricting access to sensitive data based on job roles and responsibilities, organizations can ensure compliance with industry standards and regulations.
Reduced Attack Surface:
By limiting user privileges to the minimum required level, businesses can effectively reduce their attack surface. Hackers often target accounts with elevated privileges to gain access to critical systems and data. With Least Privilege Access in place, the potential impact of a successful cyberattack is minimized, as attackers are restricted in their ability to move laterally within the network. If an attacker gains access to an employee that has administrator rights, they will not have the ability to gain access to not only that employee's files, emails and accounts, but they can grant themselves access to the rest of your organization by making themselves and administrator as well. Now they can quietly move throughout your systems for as long as they want to gathering as much data as they want to and planting malware and ransomware along the way.
Least Privilege Access is a foundational security principle that plays a crucial role in safeguarding businesses against cyber threats. By restricting user permissions to the bare minimum necessary for their job functions, organizations can enhance security, mitigate insider threats, comply with regulations, and reduce their attack surface. Prioritizing Least Privilege Access is essential for businesses looking to bolster their cybersecurity posture and protect sensitive data from unauthorized access. If you're not sure where to start and would like to audit the access you already have in place, talk to your IT team. If you don't have an IT team, we can help. We can look at your organization's setup and help you pare down access to just what is needed. We can also put rules and standards in place so that going forward, your team will be able to onboard new employee's confidently, and set up each team member with Least Privilege Access. Need help? Schedule a call with us.