Whether you’re looking to streamline security, reduce costs, or ensure compliance, just-in-time access can help. But what exactly is it?
Reduces security risks
Whether protecting your IT assets from malware or limiting privileged access to specific users, Just-In-Time Access (JIT) is a great way to reduce security risks. JIT access control is a process that automates many of the tasks that were previously performed manually. This reduces the attack surface and helps reduce the risk of privileged account abuse and lateral movement by threat actors.
Privileged accounts are a common target for attackers. Even though they are available, they can be compromised with little effort. These accounts include access to many systems and resources beyond what is needed. Just-in-time access reduces the risk of compromise by limiting the number of privileged accounts, ensuring that the users’ accounts have enough privileges to complete the task.
Just-in-time access policies are also a great way to reduce the risk of standing privileges, which is providing privileged access to users for a specific task without having to obtain the necessary credentials. When the task is completed, the user’s access is revoked, and the account is destroyed.
In the current dynamic IT landscape, the threat landscape is also changing. New vulnerabilities and threats are constantly emerging, so it’s essential to have an intelligent approach to managing risk in real time.
Just-in-Time Access is a great way to reduce the risk of unauthorized access and lateral movement by threat actors. This is achieved by automatically removing privileged accounts when they are no longer used.
Just-in-Time Access is also a great way to automate the approval process for privileged access requests. The admin can approve or deny a request based on the required timeframe and level of privilege. This reduces the risk of unnecessary 24*7 access and enables automated auditing.
The JIT approach is also an excellent way to practice the principle of least privilege, a common requirement in many policies and regulations. Standing privileges can be exploited by malicious users or unmonitored third parties, thereby violating the principle of least privilege.
Improves compliance
Using Just-In-Time access to implement the principle of least privilege is a proven way to improve compliance and security. Not only does it decrease the attack surface, but it also ensures that the right users get the proper access.
Just-In-Time access is a security strategy that is widely implemented in enterprise environments. The strategy gives users a granular view of their privileges and allows them to access desired resources quickly. Just-In-Time access is also helpful for managing privileged accounts. It provides a granular audit trail, so it’s easy to identify and fix vulnerabilities. It can also be used with Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions to enhance security.
Just-In-Time access is an advanced security approach that gives users a granular view of privileged access and reduces the risk of security breaches. It’s a powerful combination that helps organizations meet compliance requirements and improve their cybersecurity posture. Using Just-In-Time access with Identity Management provides a robust privileged account management solution. It also allows administrators to determine how to apply access controls.
Just-In-Time access can also reduce the risk of lateral movement by threat actors. Access only during working hours reduces the attacker’s time to exfiltrate data. It can also manage privileged accounts, ensuring that only sanctioned users have access.
Just-In-Time access improves compliance by ensuring that users only get the minimum level of access necessary to complete a job. It also helps to eliminate privileged access abuse and improves the organization’s cybersecurity posture. It also helps to eliminate review cycles, reducing the number of burdensome tasks.
Just-In-Time access provides the right level of leeway for the right people to accomplish their job. It also makes establishing least privilege principles easy. The most effective Just-In-Time access implementation requires a solution that tracks significant changes and alerts administrators to critical changes in real time.
Minimizes risk of privilege escalation
Using Just-In-Time Access (JIT) helps minimize privilege escalation risk. Privilege escalation occurs when attackers modify the permissions of their identity to perform unintended actions. These actions may include using a resource on behalf of someone else, modifying configuration settings, or deleting logs.
A privilege escalation attack aims to gain control of data, assets, and systems. The attacker can use malware to extend their persistent presence across the network and can exploit existing security vulnerabilities to gain further elevated privileges.
Organizations often use privileged accounts, but they remain a security risk because they offer unlimited access to essential systems. These accounts allow attackers to gain complete control of the user account. They can then deploy malware at the user, admin, or root levels.
Using Just-In-Time access enables organizations to minimize the risk of privilege escalation by providing elevated privileged access only when needed. In turn, this reduces the risk of lateral movement by attackers and simplifies the administrator’s experience. Unlike standing privileges, JIT access is revoked after the task is completed. This eliminates review cycles and audit trails and reduces the attack surface.
Privileged accounts can be temporarily elevated, or they can be elevated permanently. Privileged accounts can be used to detect abnormal activity and alert organizations about unauthorized activity. In addition to limiting the attack surface, just-in-time access also helps to simplify auditing. JIT enables organizations to limit access to sensitive data and resources.
JIT access also enables organizations to implement a zero-trust model. Organizations can limit the privilege to a specific time window and then revoke the privilege after the task is completed. This minimizes the risk of standing privileges and enables a well-defined security posture.
Privileged access also helps organizations to mitigate credential-based attack risk. This risk can be mitigated by segmenting the network and providing users with Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).
