In the on-going debate of best rock band ever between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, I have, and will ever, fall into the Stones camp. With that said, this is a least privilege forum so I need to endeavor to stick to the subject at hand as Keith's guitar wails in the background and Mick's vocal starts "Oh, a storm is threatening."
Today's blog will take a look at Governance, Rick & Compliance (GRC) from the least privilege perspective and in the process provide some much needed shelter for IT from the potential of a failed audit.
There are three critical steps to "get shelter" from GRC issues:
- Get the lay of the land: you won't know where you are at risk if you don't have complete control over who has access to what and what can privileged users do.
- Stop making assumptions: this is often the most tragic mistake. Assuming you know the answers to question 1 and/or trusting your privileged users without any form of automated verification.
- Consult compliance checklists: this may seem like an obvious step but all too often is it overlooked or current checklists failed to be secured and referenced.
"...it's just a shot away..."
The US Department of Defense has an Information Assurance and Accreditation Process(DIACAP) to provide a standard process for all DoD information systems will achieve and maintain the "Authority To Operate." There are too many similar websites to list here for the thousands of other regulations globally, but follow these three steps and you'll be breathing easier during the next audit. So, as Mick sings "gimme, gimme shelter or I'm gonna fade away" I sign off and offer this whitepaper on US Federal compliance for your reading pleasure.

Scott Lang, Sr. Director, Product Marketing at BeyondTrust
Scott Lang has nearly 20 years of experience in technology product marketing, currently guiding the product marketing strategy for BeyondTrust’s privileged account management solutions and vulnerability management solutions. Prior to joining BeyondTrust, Scott was director of security solution marketing at Dell, formerly Quest Software, where he was responsible for global security campaigns, product marketing for identity and access management and Windows server management.