Imagine giving every single person you work with a key to your house. Would you do it? Probably not, right? What if someone lost their key or had it stolen? You wouldn’t want to take that risk.

So, it stands to reason that if you can’t trust the people you work with every day with a key to your house, you wouldn’t want them to have access to all of your data; or your business’.

Insider Threats are Complicated

I know you’d like to trust the people you’ve hired. It makes sense—you picked them because you believe they’re good and capable. If someone you hired did something bad, it might feel like it reflects poorly on you.

In a perfect world, you’d be able to trust everyone completely. But in the real world, things are different. Maybe someone you trusted let you down. Maybe they got into a tough financial spot and made a bad decision. Maybe they got tricked into sharing sensitive information. Or maybe they made a simple mistake that put your business at risk.

The point is, insider threats aren’t always black and white. They’re complex. However, your defense against these threats needs to be clear-cut: either someone has access to your stuff, or they don’t.

Why Managing User Permissions is Important

One key way to protect your business is by carefully managing user permissions—basically, deciding who gets access to what. This isn’t just a good idea; it’s a recommended best practice by experts like the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT).

This practice is called the Principle of Least Privilege.

What is the Principle of Least Privilege, and How Does It Work?

The Principle of Least Privilege means that everyone in your business only has access to what they absolutely need to do their job—nothing more. Everything is shared on a “need-to-know” basis.

For example, if the accounting team needed to check payroll information, they’d request access from human resources. Once they’re done, their access would be taken away.

This rule should apply to everyone—from top managers to outside vendors. If it’s not followed, bad things can happen, like:

• Someone with too much access could accidentally leak important information because they didn’t know about proper cybersecurity.
• A dishonest employee could use their extra access to benefit themselves.
• Hackers might do more damage if they get into an account with too much access.

How to Follow the Principle of Least Privilege

To implement this, you should use role-based access controls. This means you give each person the right level of access based on their job.

To ensure security, you should also check and update everyone’s access permissions regularly. This way, if someone is given extra access for a one-time task, it can be removed when they’re done.

If this sounds complicated or like too much work, you can always get help from 415 IT. We can handle all the tech stuff for you and ensure that only the right people can access your data. To learn more, give us a call today at (415) 295-4898.