management will help organisations qualify for cyberinsurance at a time when providers commonly ask about privilege levels and whether users have local admin rights on their PCs.
The ideal platform
When searching for the ideal PEDM platform, organisations must review their endpoint ecosystem to identify its unique security needs. They must then balance those needs with those of operational productivity. In competitive commercial spaces, where some risk is always expected, the modern UAE business will aim for a minimisation of the attack surface mixed with an overall improvement in admin efficiency.
To achieve this – and leave users in a position where they can do their daily work without constantly hopping security fences – we start with the basics we have learned so far. Remove default local admin rights, control root access, and implement least privilege and zero-trust security. Whatever PEDM platform is procured must allow for the major OSes – Windows, macOS and Linux – as well as all types of endpoints, including desktops and servers. And it must do so without compromising user activity.
Endpoint privilege management should allow security and admin teams to proactively restrict installation of applications. In general, the more granular this control is, the better for productivity, but each organisation will have its own red lines. These installation controls are an extension of the principle of least privilege, which, as we have seen, limits the risk of lateral movement by an attacker. To be successful, attackers eventually must run code and install tools. More advanced threat actors may opt for stealthy approaches like fileless attacks and living-off-the-land( LotL) exploits. PEDM and least privilege are ideally placed
Across the threat landscape, dangers constantly multiply and evolve. to prevent attackers having the necessary permissions to do anything that is useful to them and harmful to the organisation.
Secure at last
The new privilege-management environment should always respect the need for productive work. Ideally, it should help users work more efficiently. The needle that solutions must thread is giving the right access at just the right time for only the time needed to do the task at hand, and to do so without any noticeable degradation in workflow. The best solutions will speed up compliance officers’ work by simplifying audit processes and will smooth out systems integration so that businesses’ past security investments are not wasted.
Across the threat landscape, dangers constantly multiply and evolve. The approach of locking down architecture in a preventative posture has evolved into a zero trust mentality where least privilege reigns. What we do next matters. But whatever steps we take, PEDM must be among them. For when we diligently manage the main points of failure, we strengthen the entire digital estate. •
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