Access Provisioning: Best Practices for Secure User Access

Introduction to Access Provisioning

The primary purpose of a network is to enable sharing of resources among a group of users. Whether those resources are computing devices, applications or file data, the goal is to provide access to exactly those who need it. However, achieving this goal can be challenging because modern organizations are highly dynamic. On any given day, new employees may be hired, others may take on more or different responsibilities, and some leave the company. In addition, organizations regularly engage temporary workers or outside specialists, and rotate through relationships with various business partners and vendors. And of course, organizations adopt new systems and applications and retire ones they no longer need.

Ensuring that user access rights evolve in sync with all these events requires effective access provisioning through the complete lifecycle of all user accounts. This article explores

What is Access Provisioning?

Access provisioning is the process of creating, managing, and maintaining user identities and their access rights to the organization's systems, applications and information. It involves granting, modifying and revoking user permissions based on their current responsibilities and organizational policies.

At the heart of access management is the principle of least privilege, which requires that each user be granted only the minimum access rights required to do their job. The goal is to balance security and productivity - ensuring that users can access the resources they need while preventing unwarranted access.

Key Types of Access Provisioning

Organizations have several types of access provisioning to choose from, including:

• Discretionary access provisioning
• Self-service access provisioning
• Workflow-based provisioning
• Automated access provisioning

Discretionary Access Provisioning (DAP)

With DAP, access permissions are granted manually by specific personnel, such as department heads or team leaders. This approach ensures local control, as resource owners can manage access based on their specific needs. It doesn't require complex policies or an identity and access management (IAM) solution.

Although DAP is simple and inexpensive, it does have some serious disadvantages, including the following:

• Results can be inconsistent because different resource owners may apply different standards.
• Manual processes are more prone to mistakes due to human error.
• Because it relies on manual provisioning, DAP does not scale readily as the user base grows.
• The approach may not comply with regulatory or industry requirements.

Self-Service Access Provisioning (SAP)

With SAP, users can request access to specific applications, data or systems, often without direct intervention from administrators. Self-service is commonly used for everyday or low-risk resources, like access to internal tools or knowledge bases, where delays could hinder productivity.

This approach can reduce IT workload and speed access provisioning. However, it has important weaknesses:

• Users might deliberately or inadvertently request more access than they need, resulting in risky over-provisioning.
• Self-provisioning systems can make it more difficult to track and audit access changes over time because they allow users to manage their own access with minimal administrative oversight.
• Some users may find a self-service system confusing or too complex.

Workflow-Based Access Provisioning (WAP)

Like SAP, WAP involves a structured request and approval process for managing access rights - but where SAP usually automates or fast-tracks provisioning access, WAP requires multiple levels of approval. Workflow-based provisioning is preferred for critical applications, systems with sensitive data, or access governed by compliance requirements. WAP helps establish clear checks and balances and creates an audit trail of access requests and approvals.

One problem, however, is that keeping workflows up to date with changing organizational structures and policies can be time consuming.

Automated Access Provisioning

Automated access provisioning uses connections between systems and predefined roles to grant appropriate access rights to users based on their job titles or departments. Here are just a few of the benefits of this approach:

• New employees can be provisioned automatically so they can become productive more quickly.
• Similarly, users who are assigned new responsibilities can quickly be given exactly the access permissions they need.
• When employees leave the organization, their access can be automatically removed, reducing the risk of unauthorized access.
• Applying access policies automatically ensures consistency and reduces the risk of human error.
• By reducing manual processes, organizations can significantly lower IT operational costs.
• Automated systems can easily scale to meet increased demand.
• Automated systems can maintain detailed audit trails that facilitate compliance with regulations.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC)

Instead of assigning specific permissions to individual users, best practices recommend granting access rights using a structured approach based on roles or attributes.

Role-Based Access Control

In an RBAC approach, an organization defines a set of roles that align with business functions, and assigns each role the relevant access permissions. For example, the role "Human Resources Specialist" might be granted access to the HR database and recruitment system. Users inherit the rights granted to the roles they are assigned.

This role-based approach has multiple benefits. In particular, RBAC:

• Speeds account provisioning since users simply need to be assigned the correct roles
• Ensures consistent and accurate assignment of access rights
• Enables quick changes that affect entire teams, such as granting access to a new data source
• Scales easily as the user base grows

Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC)

ABAC takes a more dynamic approach to access control. Instead of relying on defined roles, it considers various attributes, such as the sensitivity of the resource, the time of day, the location, and the configuration of the device being used.

This approach offers important advantages. For example, ABAC:

• Offers more granular and context-aware access control
• Provides greater flexibility in defining access policies
• Can adapt to changing conditions in real time
• Supports complex access scenarios that may not fit neatly into role definitions

When to Use RBAC vs. ABAC for Optimal Security

RBAC is most effective for organizations that have well-defined roles with clear responsibilities and access needs that remain relatively stable over time. It is a good choice when your aim is to simplify administration and reduce the complexity of access management. RBAC is also ideal when compliance requirements necessitate clear, role-based segregation of duties.

ABAC is most appropriate when access decisions need to consider factors beyond job roles, such as user attributes, resource properties, environmental conditions and contextual information. It is best suited for organizations with complex, dynamic access requirements that demand fine-grained control policies. ABAC excels in scenarios where real-time adaptation to changing security contexts is necessary, such as implementing location-based access or adjusting permissions based on time of day or device type.

Benefits of Access Provisioning

The benefits of access provisioning include:

• Reduced attack surface - At every point in its lifecycle, each user account has the minimum permissions it needs, and access rights are promptly revoked when employees leave the organization. This granular enforcement of least privilege reduces the risk of insider threats and limits the reach of adversaries who compromise an account.
• Stronger security - Structured and especially automated processes for access provisioning help reduce human errors that could result in overprovisioning.
• Increased user productivity - Users can quickly obtain the access they need to fulfill their responsibilities.
• Increased IT team productivity - Automating routine access management tasks frees up IT staff to focus on other priorities.
• Compliance - Access provisioning tools can provide a clear audit trail for investigations and demonstrating compliance with regulations like HIPAA or SOC 2 during audits.

Common Challenges in Access Provisioning

Implementing effective access provisioning can be challenging today. Here are some of the top hurdles.

IT Complexity and Cloud Infrastructure

IT environments are more complex than ever. Organizations are rapidly adopting a wide range of new technologies and shifting data and workloads to the cloud. At the same time, they often need to retain legacy systems for business, security or compliance reasons. Integrating these older systems into modern access management solutions can be technically difficult or even impossible. The result can be separate sets of tools and processes for the on-premises and cloud-based environments, which increases IT team workload and demands a diverse set of skills.

Access Creep

Despite the imperative to enforce the principle of least privilege, the reality in most organizations is that user accounts tend to accumulate unnecessary access rights over time. For example, when a project is completed or an individual changes roles, the access rights that are no longer needed may not be removed. Cleaning up this overprovisioning is a huge task, and IT teams can be reluctant to revoke permissions because an improper change could derail critical business processes.

Organizational Changes

In addition to normal employee turnover, transfers and promotions, many organizations must also deal with mergers, acquisitions and restructuring. These events can require massive changes to access provisioning, which manual processes are ill-equipped to facilitate. Indeed, even with automated access provisioning tools, IT teams can struggle to define a comprehensive set of roles and associated access rights that enforces least privilege while minimizing the risk of business disruption.

Best Practices for Effective Access Provisioning

Rigorously enforce the principle of least privilege.

This best practice is the cornerstone of security: Each user must have only the minimum access rights necessary to perform their job. Enforcing least privilege limits the damage that a user can do, whether deliberately or accidentally, and reduces the reach of an adversary who compromises the account.

Document access policies.

Create a user access provisioning policy that details the processes for requesting, approving, modifying and revoking access rights. In addition, define a set of roles and their associated permissions to be used for managing access, and set standards for handling privileged accounts. These policies are necessary both for security and compliance audits.

Conduct regular access reviews.

Organizations should regularly review all defined roles and their access rights, audit all accounts for excessive or outdated privileges, and look for orphaned accounts. This review process requires close collaboration between IT teams and business stakeholders, especially resources owners who are in the best position to say who should have what access to which resources.

Monitor access activity.

Continuously monitoring and logging access activity helps organizations quickly spot and revert improper modifications to permissions before the new access rights can be abused. Because this monitoring is vital to security, it is also a requirement of many industry standards and regulatory mandates.

Minimize standing privileged access rights.

An adversary who gains control of an administrative account can do serious damage, from stealing critical data to bringing down entire systems. To dramatically reduce this risk, grant elevated access permissions only when needed for a particular task using just-in-time (JIT) access provisioning.

Tools for Access Provisioning

There are some excellent access provisioning tools on the market today, as discussed in detail here. In addition to the core functionality of automated provisioning and deprovisioning, be sure to look for RBAC or ABAC, MFA, and SSO.

A few of the most popular solutions include:

• Netwrix GroupID simplifies access provisioning with robust identity management and user lifecycle capabilities, allowing organizations to streamline user onboarding, offboarding and role changes. With features like automated group membership management, self-service access requests and real-time updates, it helps ensure that every user has the right access at the right time.
• Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) is a good solution for organizations that rely on the Microsoft cloud. Key features include single sign-on, multi-factor authentication and conditional access.
• CyberArk Idaptive combines identity management, enterprise mobility management and user behavior analytics into a single package. If offers SSO, MFA and identity lifecycle management, as well as machine learning capabilities that can detect and respond to suspicious activity in real time.
• Okta Identity Cloud is a cloud-based solution, which makes it easy to scale as an organization grows without the need for additional hardware. Okta offers over 7,000 pre-built integrations with applications and other infrastructure components.

The Importance of Access Provisioning

Effective access provisioning is essential for safeguarding sensitive information while enabling users to do their jobs. It is also critical for achieving and proving compliance with regulatory requirements and industry standards. With an automated solution that streamlines access provisioning across modern hybrid environments, organizations can enhance their security posture while streamlining operations.

FAQ

What does it mean when your access has been provisioned?

When your access has been provisioned, it means you have access to specific data, applications or other IT resources. This process typically involves creating your user account and granting it appropriate access rights based on your job duties.

What is provisioning access?

Provisioning is the process of managing and controlling user access rights to IT resources. The goal is to enable users to perform their job functions while preventing inappropriate access. Accurate provisioning is vital for both security and regulatory compliance. While manual provisioning processes are highly time-consuming and error-prone, modern solutions streamline the work using models such as role-based access control (RBAC) or attribute-based access control (ABAC).

What is the difference between user authentication and user provisioning?

Authentication is the process of verifying a user's identity, typically by requiring a password or a modern alternative like biometrics, multiple methods in a process called multifactor authentication (MFA).

Provisioning is the process of managing user accounts and their associated access rights throughout their lifecycle. Its purpose is to ensure that each user has exactly the appropriate level of access to perform their job functions effectively.

What is an example of user access provisioning?

One of the most common instances of user access provisioning is creating a user account for a new employee and granting them exactly the access privileges they need to do their job. For instance, if the new employee works in the finance department, they may be granted access to the company's financial software and specific shared drives, but not to HR files or IT admin tools.

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