Most organizations have some kind of mechanism in place to determine who is allowed to access their IT systems and to authenticate that access. But many organizations give little thought to the type of data that users are allowed to see. Although access to some sensitive data, such as financial or private customer data, tends to be restricted, the average user with legitimate credentials will be able to view, modify, copy or delete a large proportion of data across the IT environment.
This opens the door to insider threats, although intentional, malicious activity by employees is just one part of the problem. If a hacker gets hold of an employee’s username and password and your organization has little or no restrictions on the type of data users can access, the impact of a security breach could be massive. And because the hacker would be using legitimate credentials, it would be extremely difficult to detect the activity until the damage is done.
If your organization’s IT environment holds data, applications and corporate assets that could have value to someone who isn’t authorized to view them, you need strong access control. Access control does exactly what the name implies. It boosts security by limiting access to various systems and resources.
From a technical perspective, access control systems use usernames and passwords, ID cards, PINs, biometrics and other tools to authenticate users and authorize access to the network. However, that doesn’t mean everyone with legitimate credentials should be able to roam freely across the environment.
Effective access control establishes policies based on the principle of least privilege. That means access control policies should limit users to only those rights and permissions that are required to perform their specific job duties. Rights and permissions should be identified at the user level to minimize risk, with separation of duties to ensure that no single user is capable of performing every single task in a critical business process.
There are different access control models, including role-based and attribute-based. Role-based access control uses the principles of least privilege and separation of duties to grant access based on the user’s job role. Attribute-based is a more dynamic model that grants access to resources based on attributes associated with the user, such as job role, time of day and location. The model you choose should be based on the sensitivity of your data and your operational requirements.
In some cases, more than one access control solution will be required to ensure security in on-premises network environments, the cloud and physical data centers. With the rise of mobile and remote workforces, it can be difficult to balance the need for information access with the realities of today’s security threats. Unlike rigid access control methods of the past, modern access control policies and security systems need to be flexible enough to keep up with changing risk factors, regulations and business requirements.
Every organization has something to lose should unauthorized users access their network resources. That means every organization should be using access control to protect their assets, both on-premises and in the cloud. Let us help you determine which access control model and solutions you need to minimize risk without creating complexity and confusion for your employees.
