Access Certification is part of what is known as logical access controls which are a subset of the overall information security and compliance such as SOX, HIPPA, GDPR etc.
These controls ensure integrity of data and associated access operations. Access Controls are necessary to ensure only authorized users can obtain access to an organization’s information and systems. Access controls manage the admittance of users to the system by granting users access to only the specific resources they require to complete their job-related duties.
Access Certification seeks to confirm that an organization has adequate controls to restrict access to systems and data at a more detailed level. Access Certification will confirm that access procedures such as those related to employee or contractor onboarding and employee or contractor termination are documented and being followed. Access Certification also allows internal and external audit team to check the various entitlements and segregation of duties. Access Certification has also become a critical tool to secure privileged accounts that are often targeted by hackers.
Typically, security groups rolling up to the CISO are the ones that prepare and organize Access Certifications. Reviewers are presented with details such as employee full name, job title, department, roles within the application with role descriptions, the status of system accesses. As supervisors and managers are undergoing access certification, they are looking at the employment status of the users, verifying their access matches with their current job duties. Reviewers are also verifying if the user has appropriate access rights within the system. Reviewer approved are kept in a secure location as a proof of compliance. Any access changes for employees or contractors are tracked and sent for remediation in a timely manner.
An overly complex or manual access certification program can lead to rubber-stamping as reviewers are required to laboriously certify every single user’s access and roles. An effective Access Certification program requires a software. SecurEnds CEM is used across multiple industries such as finance , healthcare and as a bolt on to existing IAM products such as Okta . Our software allows you to:
- Connect dynamically to custom applications with connectors using database/Web-API/ script
- Load user data from multiple systems of record for access reviews and certifications
- Match identities with user credentials across enterprise using pattern matching fuzzy logic
- Manage heartbeat identities and system accounts across connected and disconnected applications
- Schedule periodic or one-time or delta reviews across single application or groups of application
- Continuous access reviews based on attribute triggers- employee role change, employee termination, password reset etc
- Create evidence of compliance for external auditor
In 30 minutes we can demo why big and small customers are using our modern, cloud based Identity Governance Product.
Abhishek Kumar, VP Product & Strategy | Linkedin
