Understanding the scope of your privileged account risk (Plus, Get a Free Tool & Resources)

Understanding the size and scope of the privileged account problem across your IT environment is essential for you to map your strategy and address the security and compliance risks.

Privileged accounts provide access to a company's most valuable data, critical IT systems, public cloud infrastructure, business applications, and intellectual property. According to Forrester Research, privileged credentials—the credentials used to access these powerful accounts—are implicated in at least 80% of breaches. Yet, organizations are largely unaware of the scope of the threat landscape associated with the use of their privileged credentials.

The first step in mitigating the risks associated with privileged credential use is to gain visibility of the privileged accounts in your network. Where are they? Who is using them? How do you make sure that they do not leave the organization or get stolen by the bad guys? A clear view of the extent and status of privileged accounts gives you a better understanding of the problem and helps you plan, budget, and deploy the best solution for your organization.

Once an organization identifies all unmanaged privileged accounts, estimating the budget and resources required to manage them also becomes an easier task.

In the spirit of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, I’ve compiled several resources (including a free tool!) that will help you answer these important questions and get you on the right path to addressing privileged credential risks.

1. Get a free glimpse into the potential privilege backdoors across your network with our free tool

The free BeyondTrust Discovery Tool is a standalone, simple-to-use utility that you can securely leverage to rapidly uncover the extent of your Windows privileged account estate. Over the past 4 years, thousands of organizations have leveraged versions of this tool to uncover unknown, and potentially, unmanaged, privileged accounts.

Use our Password Discovery Tool to:

• Find and profile Active Directory (AD), service accounts and local accounts, Windows Services, and Scheduled Tasks
• Identify accounts with non-expiring passwords
• Assess password age and other key indicators of risk
• Analyze credential, account, and asset metrics

The tool provides a summary report of the organization's Windows privileged account environment. You can check out some sample privileged account discovery reports here.

You can download and run the tool for free at any time. Most importantly, the report and its data are available only to you, passwords aren't recorded, and no sensitive data is retained by the tool.

Download the Discovery Tool

2. Watch a webinar on a privileged credential hot topic from one of these world-class IT security experts:

• Paula Januszkiewicz, hacker, enterprise security MVP, cybersecurity expert, and renowned speaker, Understanding and Defending against Pass-the-Hash and other Modern Password Attack Methods,
• Derek A. Smith, founder, National Cybersecurity Education Center, author, and security polgylot: Top 15 Principles of Password Management for 2019,
• Nick Cavalancia, Founder/Chief, Techvangelism, Stopping Lateral Movement: Why Privileged Password Management Should Be the Center of Your IT Security Strategy

3. Read a vendor-agnostic 101-level overview of Privileged Password Management.

Learn all the basics, including privileged credential risks and threats, the fundamentals of privileged password management, best practices, and benefits.

Read the Overview of Privileged Password Management

4. Read the KuppingerCole Executive View: Password Safe

Get a comprehensive, independent analysis of BeyondTrust’s leading privileged account and session management solution (Password Safe).

Download the KuppingerCole Password Safe Report

5. Watch a Password Safe Demo Video

Understand how the solution’s automated credential discovery, onboarding, and management capabilities give you complete control of your privileged account landscape. Also learn how BeyondTrust’s world-leading session monitoring and management capabilities translate into granular visibility and control, enabling you to home in on and correct potential issues fast, and easily meet auditing needs.

Watch a Password Safe demo video now

And, if you want to take the next step in learning how BeyondTrust can help you address your specific needs around managing privileged credentials and sessions, contact us today!