Ever use the phrase that looking for something was like “finding a needle in a haystack”? If you’ve ever seen (or especially played in) a haystack then you understand the magnitude of that challenge. This also applies to IT security when trying to uncover who or what was able to access confidential information and either steal, damage or delete it altogether.
As I talk to CIO’s around the world I am always perplexed why they lament the challenge of rooting out (excuse the pun) potential insider threats responsible for data loss and the possibility of a failed compliance audit. In organizations where everyone has full administrator access to the network, determining who might have leaked, stolen or damaged data would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
For organizations running good least privilege systems, it’s possible to narrow down the possibilities of who had access to what and when to fewer individuals. With that in mind, employees might think again before blowing the whistle. This is especially true for server-based least privilege solutions where keystroke logging will record everything done at a granular level, whereas desktop least privilege usually just tracks at an event level.
This doesn’t, by any stretch, prevent data breaches from happening. If someone has privilege access, they can still steal or leak sensitive data. As suggested in previous blog posts, what good least privilege solu- tions can do, however, is provide a strong deterrent, because a good least privilege solution means access is not just leveraged on a “needs must” basis, it is logged too. Connect with an expert to find out what can be done for your organization.
