When we talk about identity and credential management, many doubts jump about the correct management of access and privileges that an organization must grant to its collaborators, partners or suppliers.
It is clear that today, the vast majority of attacks that put at risk the access to information of companies are associated with the management and management of identities, and this risk becomes more extensive the larger an organization is. Therefore, in addition to having adequate control of the income and expenses of credentials, there are other items that must be considered to mitigate the risks associated with theft, impersonation, or misuse of identities.
What are the challenges we face in the field of identity protection?
Privileges and permissions granted to identities – Neglecting the access levels of identities opens up the possibility that any identity could become a high-level risk.
Expired Identities – Any credential that no longer requires access automatically becomes a free pass for unauthorized access and without immediate visibility.
External access – All accounts that are not managed by the organization and that have access to some (if not all) parts of the organization's network.
Shared identities – All those credentials that are shared in a human/bot/system way increase the chances of leaving a digital footprint in the accesses they make to the network.
What aspects should be considered to correctly configure identity and access management?
To strengthen the security configuration in access and identity management (IAM), we can consider the following recommendations that, in addition to helping us with the desired order in the data handled, can represent a significant saving in reactive solutions to an incident or security breach.
Perform continuous mapping and analysis on all identities in the organization, review their situation, level of access granted, and the accesses they are actually using.
Withdraw all permissions that are not used in the different areas and levels of the organization.
Determine and comply with a reasonable period of time to delete all expired accounts that are in disuse.
Prevent users from registering in the system or self-granting access and/or permissions.
Avoid creating shared accounts, this broadens the spectrum of possible security breaches, multiplies the digital footprint, and makes the account a target more susceptible to attacks.
Today, there are integrated solutions that turn the IAM into a unified security block, manage credentials and access in an automated way, in addition, they allow to maintain real-time visibility of the state that saves the entire directory of the organization. On the other hand, unifying security based on identity allows you to maintain total hygiene in terms of the accounts, identities and credentials that are used to maintain the optimal workflow; approaching security concepts such as Zero Trust, which drastically reduces the risks associated with identity and access management.
For more information, write to us at partners@onistec.com so we can support you with your needs.
Valente Aguilar is currently Marketing Manager at Onistec.
