Access Management

  • 8 min read

The Complete User Access Management Guide For 2024

Rohit Rao

23rd October, 2023

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In an organization, users are the ones who ultimately interact with the organization's resources. So hacker/malicious actors target these users as a gateway to breach into systems and access sensitive SaaS app data. This is why user access management has become increasingly essential. 

In this blog, we'll explore its definition, importance, benefits, and strategies to streamline this process. So, by the end, you'll have a clear understanding of this pivotal concept.

Before we get into why user access management (UAM) is important, its advantages, strategies to streamline it, and more. Let's first understand what user access management means.

What Is User Access Management? 

User access management, commonly known as UAM, is a subset of identity access management (IAM). Basically, it is the process of managing access of users to various SaaS apps, data, and systems. It helps ensure that users within the organizations are provided with appropriate access to SaaS apps and other IT assets at the right time. 

Furthermore, the management of user access is usually carried out by assigning user accounts, roles, and permissions. These accounts, roles, and permissions can be given to individuals based on what they need to do their jobs and their responsibilities within the organization. 

For instance, if someone's role or responsibilities change, the IT admin will accordingly grant, modify, and revoke access to ensure they have the right level of access to perform their tasks effectively and securely.

Types Of User Access Management

UAM is categorized into two different types: Internal and external 

• Internal User Access Management

It is the process of providing access to necessary resources and SaaS apps to users (employees, managers, or admins) within an organization while ensuring that they cannot access unauthorized apps, data, and other resources. 

For instance, an entry-level employee requires access to a specific SaaS app to perform certain tasks. So, the IT team needs to grant him/her app access permissions to that very app based on his/her job role and not give access to the same resources as a CEO.

• External User Access Management

This process operates on a similar principle but extends beyond the organization's boundaries. It focuses on managing user (customers, vendors) access to a resource (such as an application and data) to ensure that only authorized users can gain access.

For example, a software company that markets a software product to its customers. They aim to ensure that only those who have made a purchase are able to access and utilize the software application.

Now that you are familiar with user access management terms let's proceed further and discuss what is the importance of it in an organization's access environment. 

Why Is User Access Management Important? 

Without proper user access management, employees or individuals within the organization might have access to sensitive data or systems they shouldn't have. This can lead to data breaches, data leaks, or misuse of critical information. 

For example, an employee who has access to financial records but doesn't need it for their role might accidentally or intentionally access and misuse that data, jeopardizing critical data safety and leading to financial and reputational damage for the organization. 

Thus, effectively managing user access can help your IT team mitigate such risks by ensuring that only authorized individuals have access to specific resources, reducing the chances of data breaches and insider threats. User access management is not restricted to this only; there are other advantages, such as the ones mentioned below.

Benefits Of User Access Management 

Given below are some of the benefits of UAM: 

• Security Enhancement: UAM helps your IT team strengthen the organization's security posture by ensuring that only authorized individuals have access to resources. By limiting access to those who genuinely need it, your team can further prevent unauthorized users, hackers, or malicious insiders from compromising sensitive data and systems.

• Operational Efficiency: It helps ensure that employees can perform their roles and responsibilities and that access is revoked when no longer needed. This enhances employee productivity and reduces the risk of security gaps during employee transitions.

• Compliance Assurance: Many industries have strict regulatory requirements for data access and security (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, PCI). By effective user access management, your team can maintain compliance by enforcing access policies, monitoring user activity, and providing audit trails. This, in turn, helps avoid legal consequences and financial penalties associated with non-compliance.
  
  Now that you know the benefits of user access management, let's explore some tips and tricks to effectively streamline the user access management process. 

Tips & Tricks To Streamline User Access Management Process 

Listed below are a few tips and tricks your IT team can use to effectively streamline the user access management process. 

1. Implement access restrictions: To minimize security risks/threats and maintain proper control, consider restricting access to only the specific functions required for an individual's job. This reduces the risks of unnecessary access privileges that users may have.

2. Restrict maximum privileges: Some high-level employees may need access to all the functions, and your IT needs have no choice but to grant them that level of access. However, to maintain a balanced access environment, your team can restrict the number of individuals with such access. 
   
   This limitation reduces the risk of insider threats stemming from excessive access and limits the potential exposure in the event of a breach by external hackers.

3. Define role-based authorizations early: During the initial setup of a user access management (UAM) system, defining roles and their associated access levels can help streamline future UAM processes. 
   
   For instance, upon onboarding, your IT team can assign roles to users, which will further help in modifying and revoking access when their designated roles change. 

4. Utilize password management tools:  By opting for a password management tool, your IT team can add an additional layer of security to your system. These tools help your team assign a unique set of credentials to each user, requiring them to use these specific credentials for logging in. So, if employees attempt to use different passwords for their identity, they cannot access the system. 
   
   This creates a security barrier against malicious actors, hackers, and unauthorized users, preventing them from breaching your system.

5. Regularly review authorizations: Conducting frequent access reviews is essential to ensure that each user has the appropriate access to the SaaS apps, data, and critical systems. 
   
   As a manager, you can set reviewers to periodically review employees' roles to authenticate their access levels align with their job requirements. This way, if there is a need to update or modify user access, your IT team can cross-verify with the reviewers and make the changes (grant, adjust, or revoke) in user access.  
   
   Now that you have gained a solid grasp of the basic concepts, importance, benefits, and strategies, you may be eager to implement user access management within your organization. Fortunately, the market offers a wide range of tools designed to streamline all the tasks associated with user access management. However, among the competition, the one platform that stands out is Zluri. What is Zluri? Which all functionalities does it offer? Here's a quick brief. 

Zluri: Your All-In-One Solution To Simplify User Access Management

Zluri is a modern SaaS management platform that enables your IT team to simplify user access management tasks such as access granting, modifying, revoking, reviewing, and more. It offers a wide range of exquisite features that help your team control, manage, and govern user access effectively while ensuring the safety and security of your users and critical data.  

So, let's have a look at all the features Zluri offers:

Zluri Assigns User-Predefined Roles Upon Onboarding 

Usually, IT teams rely on manual methods to verify each new user's identity before assigning them specific roles. Unfortunately, this process was not only time-consuming but was also prone to errors, leading to instances where employees were assigned roles that didn't align with their profile. 

So, to prevent such scenarios, what Zluri does is, when new employees are onboarded, Zluri automatically ties their profile data with digital identity. Further, your IT team can cross-verify the new hire's identities and assign designated roles. By doing so, your team can simplify the process of granting them the appropriate access and permissions necessary to perform their job tasks efficiently. 

Provides Users Access To Only What Is Essential 

Zluri helps your IT team ensure that only the right users have access to authorized applications with the right level of permissions at the required time. How does it do that? It implements different access security policies to manage and control user access, which is role-based access control (RBAC), the principle of least privilege access (PoPL), segregation of duties (SoD), and just-in-time access.

• Role-based access control- By implementing RBAC with Zluri, your IT team can assign individual users (employee(s))access based on their roles and responsibilities to perform everyday tasks. By doing so, your IT team can ensure employees only have access to apps, data, and systems required for their role. 
  
  For example, with Zluri, your IT team can ensure finance department employees won't have access to the applications and data that the HR department employees use in the same organization. Instead, they will only be granted access to the tools to manage finance-related tasks. 
  
  Further, when employees' role changes, your IT team can seamlessly modify their access accordingly and revoke outdated or prior access permissions if required. 

• The principle of least privilege: With Zluri, your IT team can grant employees with minimal or limited access to SaaS apps, data, and systems. This way, your IT team can eliminate the likelihood of over-provisioning or granting excessive privileges.
  
  For example, Zluri ensures that entry-level employees (such as interns) have user-level access permissions to apps, data, and systems, not admin-level permissions. 

• Segregation of duties: Zluri enables your IT team to prevent a conflict of interest by ensuring no single employee/user holds all the power and sole responsibility for specific IT tasks. This further helps ensure no partiality during decision-making by assigning different employees to manage different aspects of a task. 
  
  For example, Zluri ensures that each SaaS app within the company has an assigned app owner. So, while conducting user access reviews, the reviewer team, such as the GRC team, won't have complete control over the entire review process; there will also be involvement from app owners. 
  
  This separation of duty minimizes the risk of manipulation or biases in decision-making during access reviews.

• Just-in-time access: Zluri securely enables your IT team to grant employees temporary or just-in-time access to required apps for a specific duration. This way, your team can reduce the attack surface caused by standing privileges. 
  
  For instance, Mark wanted access to Spend Flo for 2 months to track some financial data budget for a project. So, with Zluri, your IT team can grant Mark just-in-time/ temporary access to Spend Flo and then schedule a date (60 days after) to revoke access. After 60 days, Zluri will promptly revoke access to Spend Flo from Mark. 
  
  This way, your team improves employee experience by granting required timely access while maintaining security.

Regularly Monitors And Analyses User Access 

Zluri thoroughly tracks who can access what and checks if anyone has more access than they need. If it finds any issues or violations, your IT team can promptly change the user's access permissions, ensuring only the right users have the right level of access. This way, your IT team can prevent security breaches that may occur from employees holding excessive permissions. 

That's not all; Zluri also sends real-time notifications if any users attempt to access apps not authorized to access as per their role. This alert enables your team to take immediate action, like restricting or suspending user accounts if required, to maintain a secure access environment. 

Conducts Periodic Audits 

Zluri conducts regular/periodic audits to make sure each employee has the necessary level of access permissions to SaaS apps, data, and systems. If there is any misalignment in their access permissions, your IT team and reviewers can run deprovisioning playbooks or modify access playbooks. By doing so, your team can revoke access from users not required for their roles or modify the access. 

Furthermore, Zluri also records the entire review process and generates audit trails and reports to show as evidence to auditors that your IT team has enforced access control policy effectively without fail. 

By doing so, you can meet stringent compliance regulations such as GDPR and HIPAA, where data integrity is a crucial security requirement. This proactive approach aids in averting potential legal repercussions and financial penalties linked to non-compliance. Also, you can avoid getting into trouble and having to pay fines.

Now that you know how Zluri can be your ideal solution to streamline the user access management process, Why wait any longer? Book a demo now and view all the other exquisite access management capabilities that Zluri offers.  

Also Read: Understanding Access Control: The Key to Securing SaaS App Data

About the author

Rohit Rao

Rohit works in the Community and Marketing Team of Zluri and is a strong advocate of community led growth.