An MSP Guide to Eliminating Standing Privilege
What Is Standing Privilege?
In order to address evolving and emerging threats, MSPs are responsible for quickly identifying and mitigating potential security risks, which means to act fast the easy way out is to reuse admin passwords. Standing privilege and the sharing of admin passwords remains a major attack surface that isn’t frequently addressed.
In an effort to fix this, MSPs are to adopt a Zero Standing Privilege model to grant the minimum number of permissions or resources that a technician needs for their workflow. By limiting access to sensitive data only for when an end user needs it, and eliminating permanent privileged access or the sharing of admin passwords, businesses can shrink their attack surfaces and reduce their risks.
Achieving Zero Standing Privilege and Eliminating Shared Admin Passwords with Just-in-Time Accounts
In order to implement the Zero Standing Privilege model across their SMB clients, MSPs are adopting Privileged Access Management (PAM) platforms that enable Just-in-Time Account Creation.
By implementing Just-in-Time accounts, MSPs can drastically minimize security gaps and their cyber risk by dynamically limiting access to key data and making it harder for threat actors to get a foothold and steal more data if they compromise a privileged account.
PAM solutions with Just-in-Time Account Creation also offer MSP leaders the visibility they need to deter, identify, and neutralize insider threats, often by offering a dashboard of active privileged accounts or a comprehensive audit log, and with the capability for an MSP to either revoke access at will or automate administrative controls. MSPs can also refer to the following Privileged Account Risk Profile to assess where their MSP can align their security with today’s best practices and compliance frameworks.
How to Scale Zero Standing Privilege with an MSP-Focused Solution
As MSPs continue to mature both their internal cybersecurity programs and their security offerings for end users, they need a solution that allows them to scale the Zero Standing Privilege model with their growing customer bases. For example, MSPs might ask their PAM or cybersecurity partners to offer tools that can help them establish a zero trust help desk, which offers a frictionless way of verifying caller identities and securing password resets.
Mature cybersecurity partners will enable MSPs to also offer self-service password resets, backed by biometric verification in order to both increase efficiency and eliminate manual work from a technician’s queue. This can be accomplished with CyberQP’s QDesk solution which integrates directly within your PSA, eliminating 90% of password resets as well as impersonation and phone spoofing attacks.
The Road to Zero Trust
By implementing Zero Standing Privilege, MSPs can also establish a foundation for their cybersecurity program to achieve the Zero Trust security architecture, which supports the requirements for user identity verification and limiting access to key resources, devices and data across an MSP’s attack surfaces and customer deployments.
Conclusion
By implementing Just-in-Time account creation into your MSP’s workflows, you can both close internal gaps in your MSP’s security, and enable technicians or contractors to get and use privileged access for limited amounts of time and complete work that matters to you and your company.
MSPs partner with CyberQP to protect the information and accounts that matter to them. QGuard offers robust Privileged Access Management and Just-in-Time Access to MSPs, giving them complete access control and visibility across their client base and security estate, allowing them to increase their efficiency and adopt best practices that align with compliance frameworks like NIST and CIS. QDesk offers end-to-end Help Desk Security Automation that eliminates your most costly help desk tickets with seamless automation. End users can avoid tickets with automation and technicians of all skill levels can solve tickets quickly. You’ll save valuable time and resources while maintaining the highest standards of security.
