Limiting Employee Access Can Reduce Your Cyber Exposure

Imagine an organizational approach to data security where every employee, administrator, and stakeholder has a digital identity that acts as a key. Each key unlocks specific system doors and grants access to resources and information based on the individual’s role.

This is role-based access control (RBAC).

RBAC can improve your business’ security posture by reducing employee error and malicious insider intent, while also helping you maintain compliance requirements and streamline administrative responsibilities.

Without this level of control in place, your business may create exposures, including overprivileged and unauthorized access, that cyber attackers can exploit.

Understanding the principle of least privilege

RBAC is based on the principle of least privilege: limiting user access to only what’s needed to perform their job.

By enforcing this principle, RBAC significantly reduces the likelihood of exposing your business’ sensitive data. If attackers compromise a user account, their access is restricted to that user’s minimal permissions, thereby containing the potential damage.

Role-based access control can improve your business’ security posture by reducing employee error and malicious insider intent, while also helping you maintain compliance requirements and streamline administrative responsibilities.

Risks of inadequate access controls

Small and midsize businesses (SMBs), in particular, often expand their attack surfaces without adequate access controls in place, whether it’s through adopting new technologies, hiring new employees, or partnering with outside vendors for support.

The more users with excessive privileges, the more opportunities and potential entry points for attackers.

When a business allows unfettered access to more systems, data, and resources than necessary, insider threats — human error and malicious intent — can lead to inadvertent or intentional system or data exposure. For example, an engineer may accidentally email sensitive business data (to which they don’t truly need access) to the wrong recipient, thus potentially exposing the data.

Phishing attacks and credential theft, in which attackers exploit overprivileged accounts, are another risk. Once attackers gain access, they can move laterally within the network, resulting in major attacks like system-wide data breaches.

Overprivileged access to sensitive data can also lead to compliance violations. Many industries, such as healthcare and insurance, require strict access control measures regarding who can access certain data. The likelihood of unauthorized access increases with every overprivileged user, potentially leading to non-compliance, fines, and legal issues.

The more users with excessive privileges, the more opportunities and potential entry points for attackers.

How role-based access can mitigate cyber risk

Eliminating all insider threats, malicious or otherwise, isn’t always possible. RBAC contains risk based on individual roles, minimizing insider threat exposure and attacker entry points. For SMBs, this helps protect sensitive data and high-level accounts, such as system admins.

Suppose attackers breach a regular user's account. In this case, they can't escalate privileges to access admin or higher-level accounts that might enable lateral network movement to more sensitive data, extending to more damaging exploits. 

Centralized RBAC policies can also reduce administrative overhead and simplify security management. Administrators can easily manage and oversee user permissions by role, rather than manually granting individual permissions. These policies help streamline the onboarding of new users and the modification of access permissions as roles evolve. 

Finally, RBAC policies enable SMBs to track and monitor user access, which is essential for meeting regulatory requirements. These policies can validate who can access what resources and provide supporting compliance reports. With regular oversight and reporting, businesses can ensure all regulatory requirements are met and adhered to over time.

Role-based access control contains risk based on individual roles, minimizing insider threat exposure and attacker entry points.

How to implement role-based access controls

Implementing RBAC starts with defining all job functions and their required system and network access levels. First, apply the principle of least privilege by assigning the minimal permissions necessary for each role. 

Monitor and review access across all functions regularly to ensure your business revokes unnecessary permissions, as appropriate. Conduct audits to confirm that only those who need access have it. Also, check employee access whenever someone switches roles due to a promotion, change in responsibility, or lateral movement.

Implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds an extra layer of security. MFA is a security practice that requires an additional method to verify the identity of someone attempting to log in to a network or account. Three-step verification often includes something you know (password), something you have (authenticator app), and something you are (fingerprint).

Implementing role-based access control starts with defining all job functions and their required system and network access levels.

Educated employees make your business safer. Ensure your employees understand the importance of RBAC policies, including who can access resources under what conditions. Your business may also want to implement location- or time-based access, whereby certain sensitive information is only accessible from the office network or during specific times of the day. 

Your business can also promote cyber risk reduction by creating policies that prohibit unsafe activities, such as using unauthorized software, define how to handle and transmit sensitive data, clarify the use of personal devices on the company network, and enforce strong password requirements. 

Get your business cyber threat-ready for 2025

Implementing RBAC is a critical, cost-effective step in safeguarding against cyber threats. Your business can take a big step toward improving its overall security posture by:

• Defining employee roles and responsibilities

• Assigning system and network access based on those roles

• Monitoring and reviewing roles over time

• Implementing MFA

• Educating employees on key secure access policies

Of course, RBAC is only one of the key security actions to prioritize in 2025. Even if your business doesn’t have the luxury of buying every available security tool and service you can make smart, strategic moves that maximize your return on investment. 

Want to be sure you’re focused on the right security actions?

Experts from Coalition Security™ can help protect your business from the expanding universe of cyber threats. Check out our SMB Cyber Survival Guide to ensure you invest in the seven critical cybersecurity areas this year.

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