Do you know how to restrict admin privileges on your digital channels, or utilise the user management settings that your IT hardware comes with? While most businesses think of external threats when it comes to cybersecurity, internal issues are just as common from both malicious and accidental sources. Think about all the staff members, clients, tenants or service providers you’ve given access to over the life of your business: are you sure you’ve removed all of them from your IT services?
Ensuring that you know exactly who has access to your devices, data and software is key to preventing cybersecurity incidents, with business owners needing to ensure that they have proper safeguards in place to restrict admin privileges to those who truly need them. In this article, we’re taking a look at best practice user management, the steps business owners need to take to protect their data and how a managed service provider can assist you in securing your accounts and hardware.
Restricting Admin Privileges With Best Practice User Management
One of the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s (ACSC) most important resources for business owners is the Essential Eight mitigation strategy, giving businesses clear guidelines on how to prevent cybersecurity incidents on Windows-based devices before they occur. Restricting admin privileges on these devices is a key part of this strategy, making it more difficult for malicious threats to spread across internet-connected devices and software.
To effectively restrict administrative privileges, your first step should be to identify all the access points to your IT setup, from devices to websites to domain names. Simple items like allowing someone to jump on your Wi-Fi may seem innocent at the time, but could allow your business to be compromised if you do not know exactly what services your business uses and what level of access you’re handing over to staff, clients or customers.
Once you’ve identified what those access points are, you’ll then need to work out what tasks need admin-level access for these access points. Your marketing coordinator may need access to your website and Google Ads platforms, your accounts team may need access to restricted financial documents, and it’s identifying these tasks that will allow you to determine what level of access you assign to each person within your organisation.
With your access points identified, tasks defined and staff members who complete those tasks determined, your next step should be to create separate and identifiable accounts for staff members with administrative privileges. These accounts should be distinct from regular user accounts and should be configured with the minimum necessary privileges required for the designated tasks. By limiting the privileges to only what is needed, the potential impact of any unauthorised access or misuse is significantly reduced.
Finally, it’s crucial to regularly revalidate the need for account access among staff members. This should be done on a frequent and consistent basis, particularly when there are changes in job responsibilities, staff members leaving the organisation, or involvement in a cybersecurity incident. Regular revalidation ensures that administrative privileges are continually justified and align with the current needs of the organization, minimizing the risk of unauthorised access or abuse of privileges.
Business owners who follow these guidelines should be able to create a more secure environment for their IT setup, and mitigate potential risks associated with unauthorized access and misuse. This is especially important for small and medium sized business and should be part of a broader cybersecurity business strategy. But this task may be too complicated for many business owners to complete themselves, particularly for those without experience in IT management. This is where having access to a professional IT provider can be helpful, helping you to identify the holes in your user management strategy and streamline your accounts to both boost productivity and prevent cybersecurity incidents.
Managing Admin Privileges With The Support Of An IT Provider
For many businesses, having the support of a professional IT consultant or managed service provider is essential, giving them piece of mind that somebody with expertise is managing their IT setup. While organisations like ACSC do provide resources for business owners to utilise, the reality is that many businesses simply do not have the time or knowledge on how to properly manage admin privileges across their IT setup, or even how to identify all of the services and logins that their organisation is actively maintaining.
Here at Concord IT, we specialise in performing these tasks professionally for our clients, ensuring that each access point to their system is secure and that their data stays protected both now and into the future. We’ll work with you to identify what accounts and devices we need to restrict admin privileges on and then put supports in place to manage these users going forward.
If you think your business needs a cybersecurity audit or account management services, get in touch with our team on (03) 7036 2470 or via email today.
