IT security doesn’t often get much love, from end users or system administrators. So in this post, I’m going to give you 5 reasons why you should embrace least privilege security with open arms on Valentine’s Day.
1. Happy, productive people
You can’t please everyone all of the time, but if you plan carefully, communicate well and test your least privilege security deployment thoroughly, the chances are that you will get user buy-in. What’s more, you are likely to successfully reduce IT support costs and increase productivity without a full-blown mutiny.
Get your deployment right, and you will feel the love from users, for making their computers faster and more reliable, and for making it easier for them to complete their day to day activities. Management will also love you for lowering overheads.
2. Fewer security incidents
Malware outbreaks can be costly to clean up, and as antivirus solutions only provide part of the solution, you need to have other defense-in-depth measures in place to make sure that PCs aren’t left vulnerable to attack. Least privilege security and application allow listing have proven to significantly reduce security incidents, providing effective damage limitation should malware penetrate your defenses. Being more effective at stopping malware in its tracks than when antivirus is used alone, is another reason to love least privilege.
3. Reduced support costs
Control over how users modify important system configuration leads to lower support costs. Users often call support with problems caused by changes inadvertently made to system settings, which in a worst case scenario, can result in system instability or even a non-functioning PC.
If you plan to implement least privilege, Defendpoint can help avoid many of the flexibility issues associated with increased security, and will result in fewer calls to the help desk in the long run.
4. Simplified path to compliance
Most regulatory mandates require users be given only the privileges required to carry out their job responsibilities, and in most cases that means removing administrative rights. If you already have least privilege security in place across your systems, you will be part of the way to achieving compliance. Least privilege can also make it easier to automate system deployment and your auditors will love that your systems are secured uniformly across the board.
5. Confidence in IT systems
Customers will love you for protecting their data and providing reliable services. There’s nothing more frustrating than a business partner that can’t promptly fulfill orders or provide consistently dependable services due to issues with IT systems. Least privilege security helps organizations to ensure that confidential information isn’t going to be compromised by the latest round of viruses.
There are lots of reasons to love least privilege. Read on to discover more benefits of an effective privilege management solution.
Russell Smith, IT Consultant & Security MVP
Russell Smith specializes in the management and security of Microsoft-based IT systems. In addition to blogging about Windows and Active Directory for the Petri IT Knowledgebase, Russell is a Contributing Editor at CDW’s Biztech Magazine.
Russell has more than 15 years of experience in IT, has written a book on Windows security, co-authored one for Microsoft’s Official Academic Course (MOAC) series and has delivered several courses for Pluralsight.