Companies both large and small inevitably encounter employees or contractors who are using services that are not sanctioned by the management. Entire groups of users are often found relying on services the company (let alone the IT department) has no idea are in use. As good intentioned or innocent this shadow use of SaaS resources/accounts may be, it’s a big weakness for the organization’s overall security posture.
SOCs and other IT personnel must be positioned not only to maintain policies, but to enforce them as well. Without the needed visibility to do so, the blind spots remain. Organizations need to know if management of their identities, which serve as the “keys to the kingdom,” are treated the way their policy intends. Because of this notable importance surrounding identities, detecting deviations from that policy needs to take place in real time, as unauthorized access occurs – and not at some later or scheduled stage.
Security personnel need to be able to remediate the situation quickly, and just as important, they should know that their identity systems are working as configured and designed in the first place. An organization needs to be able to confidently know if their configurations in their identity and access management (IAM), multi-factor authentication (MFA) systems, and privileged access systems, for example, are not being bypassed and are working as they should.
IT management needs to be able to detect multiple levels of unauthorized access, such as:
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To and from locations / countries the organization does not allow.
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Be aware of systems that are accessed during times that are unusual or unlikely for legitimate business.
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Monitor the organization’s crown jewels and keys to the kingdom in a very granular way via customized policies based on who needs access – and alert on any deviation.
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Restrict billing, human resources, business development and other systems to their respective users.
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Any activity by users who have left the organization or accounts that are supposed to be inactive.
All of these insights help to ensure policies are truly working. By looking at activity in real time, that’s consistently possible. Contact AuthMind to schedule a demo of its award-winning ITDR platform.
