Undoubtedly, we are in the moment where the most precious asset is information. In addition to being much more dynamic, how information flows through the company must always be made with the security of sensitive data in mind.

First, you need to understand that if your company does not invest in security yet, it is taking serious risks. To give you an idea, there were about 30 billion records compromised by criminal actions in 2020 alone.

Moreover, companies have started to look for security areas to prevent attacks. Last year, about US $ 53 billion more was invested in cybersecurity, according to Canalys’s data.

Thus, it is necessary to pay more attention to the security of sensitive data, since attacks are more and more frequent. With that in mind, check out 7 signs that your company needs to improve the security of sensitive data!

#1. Systems Are Out of Date

Applications and software, in particular, always need to be updated to maintain security. Over time, malicious people study software and develop threats to their data.

This concerns all applications or programs in the company. Does the application developed for customers stay updated? Is the computer software up to date?

Besides, if your company does not provide maintenance to software and machines, the situation may be even worse. When a program fails, it is quickly exploited by potential attackers.

Thus, to improve the security of your data, it is essential to keep programs and machines up to date. Older programs are a loophole for possible invasions.

#2. Your Company Spends a Lot on Repairs

Some equipment simply does not meet current security requirements anymore. Not only that, but they also lack the capacity to maintain the functionality that is needed.

For this reason, outdated hardware tends to have many flaws, and your organization needs to replace them. What usually happens is that repairs do not solve the problem.

Quite the opposite: they generate more expenses and make a company even less secure. So, if you notice a lot of old equipment or high repair costs, it is time to improve security to solve this problem once and for all.

#3. Backups Are Rare and Information has Already Been Lost Because of That

There is no use waiting for the worst to happen. To keep your data protected, periodic backup is critical. When performing this procedure with less frequency, the company is automatically in the hands of luck in cases of invasions.

In addition to being prepared to prevent this type of loss, you should be aware that a backup is a great option. It is also important to invest in good tools that keep data saved in secure places.

Without a secure storage location for your data, it will only be stored on the equipment. Thus, the chance of a leak is much greater and you will lose all the information at once.

#4. The Company has No Control Over Privileged Accounts

In a company, privileged accounts are those that have access to the organization’s sensitive data. Therefore, they are accounts that can, for example, disable security systems and access any information on those systems.

So, it is important to always know who is viewing and accessing this information. Even within a company, there may be people with negative intentions, leaking this sensitive data to the web or elsewhere.

So, if you have no idea who accesses this type of account, your company’s data security is at serious risk. You can check out ways to maintain control over this type of access here.

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#5. Your Employees Access Unverified Websites

It is important to invest in access restrictions for company employees on the web. Whether intentionally or not, someone may end up downloading malware that damages and disrupts the company’s security.

Also, several websites are exclusively known for offering hacking services and making cyberattacks. In this way, it is interesting to invest in restriction settings that prevent access to this type of website.

#6. Security Passwords for Sensitive Data Are Not Administered

It is very common that when entering passwords for certain accesses, some people use very simple templates. Besides, always choosing the same password for all company accesses can be very dangerous.

This is because invasions can often occur on behalf of the employees themselves. So, the use of the same password can facilitate the access by malicious people to very important information.

If there is no good formulation for passwords, the company’s security is automatically more limited. Even due to unintended employee failures, data loss can create serious problems.

Therefore, regardless of the factors that allow improper access to this data, it is necessary to formulate good and unique access passwords.

#7. Slow Internet

Many malware work by downloading various programs on users’ machines. For this reason, the internet may be slower and it may be difficult to perform tasks that require more agility from this service.

As a result, a slow connection may indicate that your sensitive data are not protected. An infected computer can attract several hackers who work with information theft, and this can affect your company’s credibility.

The security of sensitive data cannot be endangered

Nowadays, a company needs to keep investments in data protection. Having confidential information leaked can even mean the end of a business.

For this reason, if your company needs to improve the security of sensitive data, according to the signs we have listed, pay attention. Hackers are increasingly qualified, and protection needs to be at the best level. Investing in security is essential.

Do you want to learn more about how to improve the security of your company? Check out the post we made explaining a little better about the management of privileged accesses! Click here and understand it.

With the growth of cyberattacks, access credentials have become a strong attack vector. In 74% of cases of data breaches, companies confirm unauthorized access to a privileged account as its main cause.

In addition, The Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) has found that 29% of the total breaches in cyberattacks involved the use of stolen credentials, second only to phishing.

Once a credential is compromised, a malicious attacker is able to move sideways, infecting other devices and increasing the risk of data leaks, or even infection by ransomware. The reason behind this (and because administrator credentials remain an easy target for attackers) is the high level of access that these credentials provide.

Generally, PAM or Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM) solutions are not designed to deal with the risks associated with standing privilege.

The standing privilege is when administrator accounts with privileged access are always active (always-on). On average, in a large company, it is possible to find 480 users with administrator access on their workstations.

Thus, the concept of Zero Standing Privileges (ZSP) aims to eliminate standing privileges within organizations and mitigate cybersecurity risks.

What is Zero Standing Privileges (ZSP)?

Administrative privilege provides the means by which attackers need to take criminal action, be it data exfiltration, data destruction, or other crimes.

When an organization has identities with standing privileges (always-on), it must prioritize efforts to control access to such identities, monitor their use, and protect them from misuse.

However, for most of the day, these highly privileged identities remain idle, unused, but still pose risks.

Traditional PAM approaches have focused on managing and controlling access to privileged account passwords or temporarily elevating privileges to manage when users can work with administrative privileges.

For example, a server administrator employee can check the password of the day to access their privileged personal account each morning. Or they can simply use a solution   to have their privileges elevated on demand.

Nevertheless, the focus of each of these approaches is to ensure that the employee uses their privileges in an authorized manner, considering that they are a good employee and not an attacker looking for ways to compromise the organization.

In both cases, the privileges granted to their privileged personal account or in the sudo configuration are permanent and at risk of being abused by a motivated criminal.

Just Enough Privilege (JEP) and Just in Time (JIT)

What if we can eliminate these standing privileges and replace them with a policy-driven process to allow privileged access only when necessary and with scope only for the required tasks?

The answer to that is using the concepts of Just Enough Privilege (JEP) and Just in Time (JIT). In a just-in-time workflow, there are no standing privileges for employees – no sudo settings to manage, no privileged personal account to monitor.

Instead, potential employee privileges are detailed in a centralized policy. When an employee’s job requires privileged access, they start an activity that describes what they want to do and what resources they need to do it.

Behind the scenes, an activity identity is created or activated and only required privileges are granted to perform just the desired task.

The activity is then performed interactively by the employee (for example, a remote desktop protocol for a server – RDP) or by the system on their behalf (for example, rebooting a server).

Upon completion of the activity, privileges are revoked from the activity’s identity and it is destroyed or deactivated.

By adopting this workflow, the privilege attack surface is reduced to the window during which the employee is actively using the privilege, which decreases the risk that an attacker will steal credential passwords.

Unlike traditional PAM, where the focus is on protecting the means (for example, privileged accounts or settings) that provide privileges, the focus of the JEP and JIT workflow is on the user.

All an employee needs to know is that they are required to restart a specific server, and the system will take care of providing, protecting, and destroying the privilege when they are done.

The goal of Zero Standing Privileges (ZSP) can be achieved through just-in-time privilege access, improving operational sustainability for your privilege access program and dramatically reducing the privilege attack surface.

Benefits of Zero Standing Privileges (ZSP)

Standing privilege is defined as the fact that accounts have access with persistent privileges at all times to some set of systems. Zero Standing Privileges (ZSP) is just the opposite.

It is the purest form of just-in-time administrator access, ensuring that the principle of least privilege is applied by granting authorized users the privileged access they need for a minimum period and only the minimum rights they need.

This elimination of permanent privilege through Zero Standing Privilege is really an advantage for understanding the current privileged access and mitigating possible cybersecurity risks.

Final Thoughts

It is encouraging to see the market has started to recognize standing privilege as a key risk that needs to be addressed and that storing secrets and rotating local administrator passwords on critical servers is not enough.

Attackers are targeting workstations as the easiest way and using the administrator access available on those workstations to spread across corporate networks.

It is necessary to consider a position of Zero Standing Privilege in our environments. Stolen credentials will continue to be the easiest target for attackers and will continue to contribute to 80% of data breaches.