Secure access management is more than just strong password policies and multi-factor authentication (MFA) – it includes a variety of processes and tools that create an integrated and comprehensive approach to safeguarding digital assets. To manage access effectively, organizations must implement strategies like continuous monitoring, adaptive access controls, and automated workflows for user provisioning and deprovisioning. But even with these processes in place, your systems will likely still face security risks – so, how do you effectively protect them?
Below, we outline ten common security vulnerabilities that organizations frequently encounter, even with tight access management processes, and then provide strategies to combat them effectively.
Unauthorized access refers to individuals or groups gaining access to resources, such as systems, data, or services, without permission. This can happen for several reasons, including stolen credentials, poor password policies, and weak access controls. Unauthorized access can have serious security implications, such as data breaches or data leaks, legal issues, financial losses, and the loss of customer trust if you handle sensitive personal information.
Your organization can mitigate the risk of unauthorized access by implementing two cybersecurity strategies:
- Multifactor authentication (MFA). MFA is an identity and access management (IAM) strategy that helps prevent unauthorized access by requiring all users to provide multiple forms of identification.
- Strong password policies. A strong password policy requires all of your employees to follow several rules when creating passwords for your systems. Such a policy may require long passwords that are hard to guess, including special characters, letters, and numbers. Another policy you can implement is having employees update or change their passwords now and then — routine password updating.
Recommended tool: Netwrix Privilege Secure. Netwrix Privilege Secure helps organizations securely manage passwords, enforce appropriate password policies, manage privileged access and audit password usage.
2. Insider Threats
As the name suggests, insider threats refer to security risks caused by individuals within your organization, such as employees and contractors. These insiders usually have legitimate access rights but may pose a threat to your system intentionally, such as by stealing sensitive data, or unintentionally, such as accidentally leaking data.
To mitigate the risks involved from insider threats, organizations should implement the following frameworks:
Identity Governance and Administration (IGA):
IGA is a framework for managing and controlling user identities and access permissions within an organization. It leverages role-based access control (RBAC) to manage user permissions based on their roles within an organization, ensuring that users have the only appropriate access to do their job. To reduce the risk of insider threats, IGA can also help facilitate regular access reviews to verify that users’ access rights are accurate and up to date. Access reviews will identify and revoke unnecessary, outdated, or excessive permissions that can be exploited by insiders like employees or former employees.
Privileged Access Management (PAM)
PAM is a cybersecurity strategy that controls and monitors privileged users’ access to critical systems and sensitive data. It facilitates the use of ephemeral accounts, which grant temporary, time-limited access to critical systems, reducing the risk of data leaks and breaches from insiders. PAM solutions offer tools and strategies like strong authentication methods, the principle of least privilege, and comprehensive session monitoring and reporting to reduce the risk of security breaches like insider threats.
3. Privilege Escalation
Privilege escalation refers to malicious actors (external and insiders) gaining higher access rights or permissions in unscrupulous ways, such as bypassing access controls, stealing credentials, or using malware. Once inside the system, the attacker can either try to gain higher privileges through vertical privilege escalation or access equally privileged accounts through horizontal privilege escalation.
Detecting privilege escalation is usually difficult because the system may still identify these threat actors as legitimate users. As such, monitoring privileged accounts may not be as effective. To enhance security and eliminate privilege escalation, implement the following:
- The principle of least privilege (POLP). The principle of least privilege minimizes attack surfaces and reduces potential damage by limiting user access to only the data or resources required to do their jobs. Enforcing the principle of least privilege also plays an important role in achieving and maintaining compliance. Many compliance standards require organizations to limit access to sensitive data based on their job functions, especially for users with privileged access.
Recommended solution: Netwrix’s Privileged Access Management software can help organizations implement the principle of least privilege and important access-related strategies like just-in-time access, contextual MFA, and session monitoring.
4. Poor Password Management
Inadequate authentication can increase the risk of unauthorized access and the likelihood of a security breach. Some common examples include:
- Using weak passwords
- Not changing default passwords
- Infrequent password changes
- Not storing passwords correctly or securely
- Using predictable password patterns
To decrease the risk of a data breach, organizations must continuously monitor user accounts and implement effective password policies. This requires comprehensive visibility into password usage, enforcement of regular updates, and proper authentication measures. Some examples of this are as follows:
- Enforce strong password requirements. Implement policies that require complex passwords.
- Enable MFA. Organizations should also require additional verification steps beyond passwords to enhance security.
- Regularly audit passwords. It is important to conduct regular audits to identify weak or compromised passwords.
- Use password management tools: One of the best methods for securing your users’ passwords is to implement a password management solution to store, generate, and rotate passwords effectively. These solutions offer comprehensive features such as real-time monitoring, auditing capabilities, and centralized user credentials management.
5. Lack of Access Audits and Monitoring
Lack of visibility into user activity can leave organizations with a huge security gap. Without proper monitoring, unauthorized or abnormal access to your organization’s systems can remain undetected for long periods, causing significant harm, such as network outages.
Continuous monitoring within your systems is recommended to detect abnormal access behavior. Conducting regular access audits can help organizations effectively track who accesses your systems and data, which is vital in tracing back where a breach may have come from. For larger organizations, monitoring access can be a huge challenge if not done correctly; in this case, automated audit and reporting tools can help streamline processes and provide real-time alerts on suspicious activity.
Recommended tool: Netwrix Auditor offers automated auditing and reporting capabilities that monitor access across diverse IT environments, helping maintain visibility and control over sensitive data.
6. Inadequate Termination Processes
When employees or contractors leave your organization, you must terminate their access rights immediately. While this might sound straightforward, organizations with poor access management processes may not have policies to terminate these rights. This identity management oversight can expose your organization to security risks caused by orphaned, unmanaged, or unmonitored identities who still have access to your systems.
Standardized termination processes can help mitigate this risk. Below is an example to get started:
- Use solutions that can create a central repository for your organization’s sites, users, and resources, providing an all-in-one view of system activity. From there, you should implement a tool that can automate provisioning and de-provisioning to manage the transition of movers, leavers, and joiners, ensuring seamless role adjustments and access updates to maintain security and compliance standards and elevate productivity.
Recommended solution: Netwrix’s Identity and Governance Administration solutions can automate provisioning and de-provisioning and manage movers, joiners, and leavers based on data synced from authoritative sources like your HRIS, minimizing security risks and costs associated with inactive accounts.
7. Outdated Systems and Software
Poor security can also stem from an access management strategy that relies on legacy systems. Because you lack visibility into these older systems’ access controls and security measures, you may inadvertently continue to rely on them despite their vulnerabilities. This can expose your organization to security issues affecting your business’s operations.
You can mitigate the risks associated with outdated systems by implementing the following practices:
- Regularly updating and patching your systems. This will ensure that vulnerabilities are promptly addressed and security gaps are minimized.
- Migrate your systems to newer platforms or products with better security controls. Although migrating or integrating systems is a huge undertaking, modern security systems have advanced features and built-in defense mechanisms that reduce the susceptibility to outdated vulnerabilities. It is also important to always update your software when prompted as these updates and hotfixes address software bugs and security vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malicious actors.
8. Insufficient User Training
User activity is one of the biggest security vulnerabilities organizations face. Employees can accidentally compromise security through actions like clicking on phishing links, sharing passwords, or mishandling sensitive information. Oftentimes, this risk results from a lack of visibility; if you can’t tell whether users follow your password policy, you also can’t tell if they need additional training.
The obvious step to avoid insufficient user training is to require regular security training for all employees. This can be monthly, quarterly, or yearly. Security training programs can also help organizations identify the concerns and challenges that users may encounter when implementing access control policies.
9. Shadow IT
Shadow IT refers to technologies—both hardware and software—your employees use without the IT department’s knowledge or approval. Without a secure access management system, shadow IT can be undetected for long periods, potentially leading to data breaches and compliance issues. While your organization can avoid shadow IT by enforcing strict policies that caution employees against using unauthorized technologies, this alone may not be sufficient. Employees might still need to bypass your restrictions due to the perceived efficiency and convenience they’ll gain. Therefore, it’s best to implement a proactive approach, such as:
- Using detection tools
- Leveraging endpoint device management solutions
- Regularly installing and updating your systems
These security practices help monitor network traffic and identify unauthorized applications and devices, allowing IT teams to promptly address security risks and maintain control over the organization’s technology landscape.
Recommended tool: Netwrix Threat Manager helps organizations effectively monitor and respond to abnormal behavior in their IT ecosystem. With Netwrix, you can fine-tune threat detection by building profiles of normal user behavior and tagging privileged users as sensitive so any suspicious activity can be swiftly responded to.
10. Lack of a Comprehensive Access Management Strategy
Many organizations adopt a reactive security approach, addressing and resolving security issues as they arise. Unfortunately, once a breach occurs, it’s already too late. Taking a proactive approach to security means anticipating potential threats before they manifest into breaches. This involves addressing all the risks listed above to stay ahead of evolving threats. By being proactive, organizations can strengthen their defenses, minimize the likelihood of breaches, and protect sensitive data and assets effectively.
Implementing a comprehensive access management strategy involves defining clear policies, conducting regular audits, and leveraging automation, as well as aligning with business objectives and regulatory requirements. Implementing powerful access management solutions that automate the work involved is the easiest way to secure your systems and stay ahead of security risks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is system access management?
System access management controls who can use resources, data, and digital systems to perform specific organizational tasks.
What is an example of access management?
An example of access management is multifactor authentication to secure your organization’s network. By implementing MFA, your network will always require users to provide multiple verification methods, such as a password or PIN and a one-time code, before gaining access.
What is an access management control system?
An access management control system is any technology used to grant or revoke permissions to users attempting to access resources or data in an organization.
What is an example of system access control?
An example of a system access control is when you need to unlock your phone. You may need to key in your password or PIN, use fingerprint or facial recognition, or provide a pattern to do so.
What are some examples of IAM in cybersecurity?
Some examples of IAM include:
- MFA
- Single sign-on (SSO)
- Privileged access management (PAM)
- Risk-based authentication
