Though all users in an organization require certain privileges to do their jobs effectively, it is also important to think about whether employees should be given all rights without any restrictions and time limit.
Identity access reviews are an integral part of access control strategy, as seen on platforms like https://sonraisecurity.com/solutions/cloud-security-platform/. In case you have signed up for identity and access management with a cloud security platform, you will already know the importance of conducting regular identity access reviews.
Managing and monitoring many privileged users can be a challenging task with high chances of deviations and mishaps. This is where identity access reviews come into play. Here are some of the reasons to conduct the review for cloud security.
Table of Contents
To Minimize Data Breach and Data Theft
The principle of least privileges is again an essential aspect of identity access reviews for cloud security. For instance, if an intern in your company has the same access rights as that of a company executive, the assigning process may start to seem absurd after a point. It can lead to the generation of chaotic access landscapes.
This is because many companies fail to revoke the rights of particular employees when it is time. If an employee shifts to a different department, the organization should conduct a prompt identity access review and change the user’s access rights and control concerning the team. If you fail to do this, it may lead to unnecessary data theft and data breach.
To Deploy Strong Security Measures
When you fail to conduct regular identity access reviews, you may give way to malicious activities and security holes in the network. Other than the apparent data theft issues, it can also lead to malware attacks in the network.
The more privileges an employee has, the more chances of data vulnerability and data breach. The longer you postpone conducting identity access reviews, security measures will start to slack, giving way for malicious activities which can affect the organization.
Many organizations use user templates to make their job easy while onboarding new employees. An existing user profile is copied along with the permission and is assigned to the new employee. Only when you conduct identity access reviews regularly will you be able to monitor the spread of such templates and keep them in check.
To Maintain A Policy’s Exception List
In an organization, all employees should ultimately follow different access policies to secure access to the resources. But, sometimes, you may have to create exceptions depending on the business case. In such situations, identity access reviews will help the admin manage the tasks without deviating from policy exceptions.
The admin can also provide legit proof to the auditors to perform identity access reviews without any missteps regularly.
It Helps Improve Productivity
Conducting regular identity access reviews helps reduce security risks during the entry of new personnel into the organization. When there are no missteps in the process, it reduces the time taken to deliver access and, in turn, increases production.
At the same time, business agility will also boost because of the various advantages that identity access review and critical resource monitoring bring to the table.
To Monitor the Number of Users in Privileged Roles
As too many users in privileged roles can have a negative impact on access and control, it is essential to monitor the users regularly and identify any suspicious activity in the network. Identity access reviews help check how many users have administrative access and how many in the crowd are top administrators.
This way, you will identify if there are any invited partners or guests still on with access. Once you figure it out, you can recertify the users and keep the privileges in check.
Regular Identity Access Reviews Prevent Security Holes
To reduce the risks of data theft and misuse, all organizations should have a well-structured process for removing, granting, and adjusting user control and permissions from time to time. You must constantly monitor and review the status of the access landscape to rectify errors in time.
Monitoring and re-evaluating such controls can be a time-consuming and challenging process. This is where identity access reviews come into play. All you have to do is appoint different data owners like managers and department heads to monitor and control user permissions.
It can be done by checking if there are any special rights for certain employees.
In case the assigned data owners identify any expired access rights, they have the liberty to revoke the access right then and there. This way, you can bring down unnecessary active accesses and secure the data in the network.
With the help of the right tools, you can make the identity access review process more quick and efficient. Reach out to a cloud security service provider as soon as possible to start with different review strategies.
