In a world of data breaches, that seem to happen daily, security is on everyone’s mind. Or at least it should be.
Traditional security measures such as firewalls, active directory rights management, complex password policies and frequent password rotation are proving to be more peripheral in nature, and shouldn’t be the only security measures in place for an organization. When unauthorized users gain access to accounts and credentials, they can bypass these traditional measures and move laterally across an organization’s network. The largest and most recent cyber breaches have been attributed to unauthorized users leveraging privileged credentials for unauthorized access.
Employees and vendors with remote access to systems and privileged credentials are prime targets for cyberattacks. Additionally, unsecured remote access tools have been named year after year as the leading method of compromise in data breaches. Despite being aware of these threats, most organizations still allow a myriad of internal and external parties to access their most valuable systems and data.
The good news is, you can start now with improving your organizations security posture.
Think access first. And think about your vendors. How many external parties do you allow to access your network on a daily or weekly basis? How are they accessing your network and what solutions are they using? Start with eliminating the use of VPNs for your vendors to improve security and access management. Implement a solution that allows you to control, manage, monitor and audit remote sessions, giving your more insight into their activity. Solutions like Bomgar Privileged Access gives you the capability to set access permissions at a granular level, so vendors only have access to the systems necessary to perform their job, and for the appropriate amount of time.
This step is the first in a series, Bomgar’s Six Steps to Secure Access for Privileged Insiders and Vendors.Check out this on-demand webinar that gives more details on each step to help you build a successful defense-in-depth strategy.

Chris Herrin, Senior Product Manager at BeyondTrust
Chris Herrin is the Senior Product Manager for Privileged Remote Access and all third-party integrations for the BeyondTrust portfolio. He has been with BeyondTrust (Bomgar) for the last five years, beginning his career on the Sales Development and Solutions Engineering teams. Chris is an active Georgia Bulldogs fan, and has to mention his corgis in every presentation he is a part of.