4 Expert Tips to Reduce Data Breaches

Curiosity sparked among the experts at Neurosoft: What's the most effective way to manage user access and minimize the risk of data breaches? In our recent LinkedIn poll, opinions varied: 31% of respondents emphasized the importance of clear incident response procedures and regular staff training, while another 31% championed Conditional Access policies. A majority of 38% highlighted the critical need for enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA) across all accounts. And interestingly, 0% voted for applying the principle of Least Privilege Access or conducting regular reviews of active users' access needs.

Why does User Access Management matter for reducing data breaches?

User Access Management (UAM) matters for an organization because it is crucial to protecting sensitive data, systems and resources by ensuring that only the right individuals have the appropriate level of access at the right time. Here's why it's important:

• Security: Prevents unauthorized access to critical systems and data.
• Regulatory compliance: Helps meet compliance standards like GDPR and ISO 27001 by controlling and logging user access, supporting audit and compliance efforts.
• Operational efficiency: Streamlines user onboarding/offboarding, role changes and permissions management, saving time and reducing human error. Moreover, it ensures secure access to company resources from any location, supporting remote work.
• Least privilege enforcement: Supports the principle of least privilege, granting users only the access they need to perform their duties.
• Improved visibility & control: Centralized access control gives IT and security teams better insight into who has access to what and why.

UAM is foundational to cybersecurity and governance, enabling organizations to build a stealthy shield against data breaches, balancing security, business needs and compliance.

Do you want to keep data breaches away?

Neurosoft experts present four must-know best practices to master your organization's UAM and prevent data breaches.

1. Multi-factor authentication

We observe that many companies that fall victims to cybersecurity attacks often lack sufficient access controls, with MFA being an area where many miss the mark. IT departments frequently hesitate to deploy MFA across the organization due to concerns about user dissatisfaction. Adding to the concern, high-profile users, such as C-level executives, often slip through the cracks, exempt from these cybersecurity policies. However, the reality is clear: implementing MFA can dramatically reduce the threat of data breaches like identity theft and its repercussions.

1. Conditional Access Policies

Conditional access policies help control user access by enforcing access controls based on specific conditions, such as user identity, location, device compliance, or risk level. Instead of granting blanket access, these policies ensure that only the right users under the right circumstances can access critical resources. This approach reduces the risk of unauthorized access, especially in hybrid and remote work environments.

1. Principle of Least Privilege

Furthermore, organizations should adopt the principle of least privilege (PoLP), ensuring that users have only the minimum access necessary to fulfill their roles.

1. Regular Access Reviews

Regular access reviews, prompt deprovisioning of accounts ̶ when roles change or users leave̶ and centralized identity management all contribute to strengthening the access control framework, helping to safeguard against both internal and external threats.

Don't wait for trouble to knock

Neurosoft's Cybersecurity Technology Advisory assists companies in designing and implementing a robust, future-proof User Access Management (UAM) plan. Our cybersecurity architects assess corporate requirements and select appropriate methods and supporting technologies to create an optimal UAM implementation. Following this design phase, our cybersecurity engineers implement the UAM strategy. Our services include:

• Security by Design: Our Cybersecurity Architects create a design that ensures the highest level of security while fully supporting business and compliance requirements.
• Zero Trust: The whole configuration is built with a zero trust approach in mind, implementing least privilege through IAM policies, conditional access policies and MFA.
• Privileged Access Management (PAM): Privileged access is an integral part of our holistic access management approach. It helps control the misuse of administrative accounts and privileged access in general, and enhances cybersecurity by enforcing least privilege for systems. Additionally, it monitors administrative activities to reduce the risk of insider threats and external data breaches.

Let's take charge of our cybersecurity strategies and build a safer digital environment for everyone!

Do you need more info? Contact a Neurosoft expert!