If you haven't noticed, there are some things in our enterprises that we just can't afford to leave generic. Certain things need to be fine-tuned and customized in ensure the success (and security) of each individual company. One of these is the level of privilege each user has. You need to be able to define how much access each user/manager/administrator is allowed to operate with. You should know exactly who has access to what information and what time, and how they are using it. In a world where new data breaches are showing up in the media daily, the need for the shift to granular classifications is immediate. Making such a security measure a priority will ensure a more secure enterprise. Ignoring the need will create an incompliant environment and leave your company open to security breaches.
Letting everyone have access to your system is a bad security practice. Especially on your servers, where 90% of data breaches occur. Sure, turning a blind eye and giving employees access to the root password can be easier than the alternative, but at what cost do you put ease over security? Root itself is not necessary for employees to complete their jobs- just the elevated access to certain tasks. The most dangerous security risk that every corporation needs to address is the over-privileged account. The reason? All those open, unsecured gateways that lead directly to your sensitive information! Both internal breaches (caused by the misuse of privileges) and external breaches (which are caused when a hacker hijacks the credentials of someone with all-powerful access) can be prevented with granular control and monitoring of who has access to what information within the walls of your organization.
Click here to read this cutting-edge whitepaper on how to acheive this level of security in your company.
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.