Access Management

  • 11 min read

What Is Zero Standing Privilege? A Comprehensive Guide

Madan Panathula

1st February, 2024

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Organizations prioritize data security by limiting access to necessary personnel. Yet, finding a balance between strict access controls and operational efficiency is challenging. Zero standing privilege offers a solution, maintaining data integrity while facilitating smooth operations. This article explores zero standing privilege, its importance, beneficiaries, benefits, and implementation strategies.

The imperative for robust cybersecurity measures becomes increasingly apparent in an ever-evolving digital landscape. Enter zero standing privileges, a solution addressing this need. Regardless of necessity, traditional practices of granting continuous access to users present significant vulnerabilities. Acknowledging the risks inherent in standing privileges, the concept of zero standing privileges has gained prominence as a proactive response to evolving threats.

At its core, zero standing privilege aims to minimize the attack surface by rigorously limiting access rights. This strategy strengthens organizations' security postures, fortifying defenses against potential breaches and unauthorized access attempts. While this provides a glimpse into the concept, a deeper understanding is essential.

Let's delve into what zero standing privilege entails.

What Is Zero Standing Privilege?

Zero Standing Privilege (ZSP) is a security framework meticulously designed to limit the access permissions of system administrators or users with elevated privileges to the absolute minimum required for task execution. Essentially, ZSP operates as a strategy ensuring no user retains permanent administrative privileges; instead, these privileges are transiently granted as necessary for specific tasks and promptly rescinded upon task completion. This dynamic approach is a bulwark against internal and external threats, exploiting such privileges to gain illicit access to sensitive data or systems.

Moreover, ZSP contributes significantly to establishing a zero-trust security architecture by formulating policies and controls that mandate users to consistently verify their identity before gaining entry to the organization's IT infrastructure. These policies are instrumental in granting users access to systems, applications, servers, or other resources only on a "just in time" basis, precisely aligned with their daily responsibilities.

But the real question arises: who actually needs to implement zero standing privilege?

Who Needs Zero Standing Privilege?

Zero standing privileges are imperative for any organization that prioritizes data security. This includes businesses handling sensitive information, such as healthcare institutions, financial services, and government agencies. 

In today's digital landscape, where data breaches are becoming more sophisticated, implementing a ZSP approach is vital for any organization utilizing digital systems, irrespective of industry. Additionally, security professionals are encouraged to integrate ZSP into their broader Information Risk Management and Cybersecurity frameworks to enhance overall security posture.

Why Is Zero Standing Privilege (ZSP) Important in Cybersecurity?

Zero Standing Privilege (ZSP) holds significant importance in cybersecurity due to its ability to address critical weaknesses inherent in traditional access management practices. Organizations often rely on privileged identity accounts within their network infrastructure to manage access to valuable data and assets. However, the increasing complexity of access requirements poses challenges in effectively managing these permissions.

Managing access permissions becomes challenging due to various factors, including:

1. Maintenance of administrative access with extensive privileges.

2. Persistence of shared accounts.

3. Reliance on superuser and root accounts.

4. Ongoing third-party privileges that are not revoked.

5. Dependence on password-based access to systems and applications.

These challenges lead to the persistence of standing privileges, creating potential security and operational risks for the organization. Zero standing privileges address this by granting access on a temporary basis as needed, thereby reducing the exposure to unnecessary risks.

While granting users permanent privileged access may seem convenient for IT administrators, it poses significant risks, especially in organizations dealing with highly sensitive data or having a larger workforce. In smaller organizations where there's a high level of trust among employees, and the IT infrastructure is less complex, permanent privileged access might be manageable. However, the risks of standing privileges far outweigh the convenience for mid-sized and larger organizations dealing with sensitive data.

Ultimately, ZSP plays a crucial role in safeguarding an organization's assets and ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations, making it indispensable in modern cybersecurity strategies.

Risks Associated With Standing Privileges

Standing privileges pose several significant risks to organizations, including:

1. Security Concerns with Continuous Access: Granting permanent access to resources, especially in remote workplaces, exposes organizations to significant security vulnerabilities. When users maintain prolonged access, there's a heightened risk of unauthorized individuals obtaining their credentials. These credentials can then be exploited to compromise sensitive information or critical systems.

2. Lateral Movement Risks: Standing privileges, which afford users continuous elevated access, facilitate lateral movement within the network. In the event of credential compromise, unauthorized individuals can traverse the network, accessing various resources and potentially causing security breaches.

3. Compromised Admin Credentials Threat: The compromise of administrator credentials presents a severe threat. Administrators typically possess extensive permissions across multiple systems and can freely escalate privileges. If their credentials are compromised, it can lead to unauthorized access to critical systems, potentially resulting in significant security breaches and data compromise.

Addressing these risks requires proactive measures, such as implementing zero standing privileges and robust access management practices, to mitigate the potential impact of credential compromises and unauthorized access.

So how can implementing zero standing privilege be beneficial in such situations? 

How Implementing Zero Standing Privileges Can Be Beneficial?

Implementing Zero Standing Privileges (ZSP) offers several significant benefits for organizations:

1. Granular, Policy-Based Access Controls: ZSP utilizes granular, policy-based security controls to provide users with temporary access to necessary resources precisely when required. This automated removal of access upon task completion and the expiration of access time limits reduces the workload for IT teams in provisioning and deprovisioning access, enhancing operational efficiency.

2. Mitigation of Administrative User Access Risks: ZSP effectively addresses the challenge of excessive administrative user access. By restricting users, particularly administrators, from maintaining unnecessary access, ZSP mitigates the risk of exploitation, contributing to a more secure IT environment overall.

3. Credential Management: ZSP helps maintain credentials by preventing users from retaining unnecessary access. This significantly reduces the number of passwords, secrets, and keys that IT teams need to manage, simplifying cybersecurity efforts and minimizing potential vulnerabilities.

4. Qualification for Cyber Insurance: Implementing ZSP and maintaining limited access can enhance an organization's eligibility for cyber insurance. This qualification reduces the financial impact on the organization in the event of a security breach, providing an additional layer of protection.

While ZSP shares similarities with the principle of least privilege, they are not identical. The principle of least privilege dictates that users should only be granted the minimum level of access required to perform their tasks. In contrast, ZSP specifically focuses on granting access temporarily and removing it promptly upon task completion. This nuanced approach enhances security by minimizing the window of opportunity for potential threats. 

However, you also need to be aware of the zero standing privilege pitfalls, so that you can avoid them. Failing to do so can impact the ensure effectiveness of implementing ZSP. 

Avoid These 2 Mistakes While Implementing Zero Standing Privilege 

Similar to any security system, the proper execution of Zero Standing Privileges (ZSP) significantly influences its overall effectiveness. There are two potential pitfalls that can impact the efficiency of ZSP:

Pitfall 1#: Lack of Integration with Modern Workflow

When you implement ZSP, users are required to request access privileges when they actually need it. This introduces friction in workflows and this may impact the employee's productivity and efficiency.

Solution: 

To avoid such friction, a well-executed ZSP implementation should seamlessly integrate with modern DevOps tools and workflows. For instance, the Just-In-Time process can be incorporated into ChatOps platforms and integrated within developers' tools, such as SSH terminals, database clients, and IDEs.

Pitfall 2#: Use of Passwords and API Tokens

The utilization of passwords and API tokens poses a potential challenge to ZSP's effectiveness. Unless these static credentials are changed every time Just-In-Time access is granted, their long-lived nature can compromise the fundamental purpose of ZSP. If compromised, static credentials provide attackers with unconditional access for an extended period. 

Solution:

To counterattack this issue, while implementing ZSP, your IT team can enforce rules that prohibit using static credentials altogether and instead opt for short-lived certificates.

Now, let's do a quick comparison of Zero standing privileges and least privilege meaning. 

Zero Standing Privilege Vs. Least Privilege Model

The least privilege model (LPM) and zero standing privilege (ZSP) are both critical components of robust cybersecurity strategies, but they differ in their approaches and objectives:

1. Scope of Access Control:

• LPM: Provides users with the minimum set of permissions required to perform their job functions effectively, based on their roles and responsibilities within the organization.

• ZSP: Does not grant any default or standing access privileges to users. Access is granted on a per-need basis, requiring explicit authorization for each access attempt.

2. The granularity of Access:

• LPM: Offers a more generalized approach to access control, granting users access to predefined resources and functionalities within their authorized scope.

• ZSP: Enforces a more granular access control mechanism, requiring users to request access to specific resources or functionalities as needed, with access granted only for the duration required to complete the task.

3. Flexibility and Agility:

• LPM: Balances security and usability by providing users with predefined access rights that align with their roles, allowing them to perform their tasks efficiently.

• ZSP: Prioritizes security over usability by requiring explicit authorization for each access attempt, potentially adding extra steps to the access request process but minimizing the risk of privilege abuse.

4. Administrative Overhead:

• LPM: Requires ongoing management to ensure that users' access rights remain aligned with their current roles and responsibilities within the organization.

• ZSP: Initially requires more administrative effort to implement and manage access requests but reduces the need for ongoing access management tasks once established, as access is granted on a temporary basis.

5. Risk Mitigation:

• LPM: Reduces the attack surface by limiting users' access rights to only those necessary for their job functions, thereby mitigating the risk of unauthorized access and privilege escalation.

• ZSP: Minimizes the potential for privilege abuse and unauthorized access by eliminating standing privileges altogether and enforcing strict access controls based on immediate needs, reducing the attack surface even further.

6. Compliance and Auditability:

• LPM: Helps organizations comply with regulatory requirements by ensuring access rights are aligned with the principle of least privilege, a common security best practice.

• ZSP: Provides a more stringent access control framework, which may enhance compliance efforts by requiring explicit justification for access requests and limiting access to resources only when needed, enhancing auditability and accountability.
  
  In summary, while both models aim to enhance security by limiting access rights, ZSP offers a more proactive and stringent approach by requiring explicit authorization for each access attempt and eliminating standing privileges altogether. This approach, although potentially more cumbersome to implement initially, reduces the risk of privilege abuse and unauthorized access, thereby strengthening the overall security posture.
  
  Now that you have a clear understanding of the differences let's proceed further and understand how to effectively implement standing privileges. 

How To Implement Zero Standing Privilege?

To effectively implement Zero Standing Privilege (ZSP), follow these four strategic steps:

1. Define Roles & Responsibilities:

Clearly outline users' roles and responsibilities, specifying the tasks and functions associated with each role. By establishing clear roles, the IT team can align access privileges with job responsibilities, ensuring employees only have access to the resources necessary for their designated tasks.

2. Use Policy-Based Access Controls (PBAC):

Implement policy-based access controls by creating and enforcing access rules based on predefined policies. These policies determine who can access what resources and under what circumstances, providing a structured framework for granting access permissions and streamlining access management.

3. Enforce the Principle of Least Privilege:

Ensure adherence to the principle of least privilege, granting users the minimum level of access required to perform their job roles. This strategy limits access to essential resources, reducing the potential impact of security breaches and restricting unauthorized access to sensitive data.

4. Continuously Monitor and Review Access:

Establish a process for ongoing monitoring and review of access permissions, regularly conducting access reviews to ensure alignment with users' roles and responsibilities. This continuous monitoring helps identify and promptly rectify any unauthorized access, maintaining the integrity of the ZSP model over time.

In addition to these strategic steps, implementing access controls through an access management platform can further enhance the effectiveness of ZSP. One such tool is Zluri, which offers comprehensive access control policies and features to implement and manage access controls effectively. Zluri helps enforce access control policies by providing features such as role-based access control (RBAC) and continuous access monitoring, enhancing overall security and compliance efforts.

How Do Access Controls Contribute To Enforcement Of Zero Standing Privilege?

Access controls play a pivotal role in upholding zero standing privilege, constructing a robust security framework fit for the digital age. This means it acts like a defense mechanism keeping organization’s sensitive data and app secure while ensuring no user holds unnecessary access. 

For organizations prioritizing a proactive defense against unauthorized access and potential breaches, implementing access controls is imperative. However, access control enforcement is not an easy task, IT teams need to take several factors into account like data sensitivity, user types, and access levels before implementation. So, manually enforcing access control can be intricate and prone to errors. 

So to put you at ease, advanced solutions like Zluri come into play. Zluri offers access management solution that presents itself as a modern solution in this evolving access landscape. It is designed to ensure that only authorized users gain access to required organizational resources at the right time. 

With this advanced platform, your IT team can effectively grant, modify, and revoke access when necessary, minimizing the risk of unauthorized entries and security breaches. It takes a step further to effectively manage the access landscape by conducting periodic user access reviews to ensure employees' access aligns with their designated job role and responsibilities; if any unrequited access is detected, reviewers can prompt revoke or restrict the access to maintain a well-governed and secure access environment.

However, that's not the only layer of defense Zluri's access management employs to reduce the attack surface and ward off breaches. It also implements various types of access controls that further help in effectively enforcing zero standing privileges. Let's delve into these distinct access controls:

• Policy-Based Access Controls (PBAC)

Policy-Based Access Control (PBAC) is a strategy for managing user access to apps, data, and systems based on a combination of user designated responsibilities and defined policies. Unlike the conventional method of auditing and adjusting roles organization-wide, PBAC allows your IT team to quickly modify users’ entitlements and access in response to evolving requirements. This ensures that the organization's resources remain secure through the enforcement of established rules and policies. 

• Role-Based Access Controls (RBAC)

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)revolves around the concept of granting permissions to users based on their designated roles within an organization. It provides a simple and easily manageable approach to access control, minimizing the likelihood of errors compared to assigning permissions individually to users.

When implementing RBAC for role management, your IT team needs to thoroughly analyze user requirements, categorizing them into roles based on shared responsibilities. Accordingly, users are assigned one or more roles, and each role is associated with one or more permissions. This structured approach simplifies user assignments, as individuals no longer need to be managed individually; instead, they possess privileges aligned with the permissions assigned to their designated role(s).

For example, if you are using RBAC for managing access for HR applications, you can provide HR managers a role allowing them to update employee details, while other employees would have access restricted to viewing only their own information.

• Discretionary Access Controls (DAC)

Discretionary access control operates on the principle of restricting access to objects based on the identity of the subject, which can be either a user or a group to which the user belongs. This control mechanism is executed through the utilization of access control lists. 

The security administrator plays a pivotal role in this process by defining a profile for each object, be it a resource or a group of resources. The access control list for the profile is then updated accordingly. This form of control is discretionary, signifying that subjects, including the resource owner and the security administrator, have the capability to manipulate it. This manipulation involves determining who can access the resource and the level of authority granted.

• Mandatory Access Controls (MAC)

Mandatory access control operates as a strategy for restricting access to resources based on both the sensitivity of the information within the resource and the user's authorization level to access information of that particular sensitivity.

The sensitivity of a resource is established through the assignment of a security label. These security labels include a security level and zero or more security category. The security level is the hierarchical classification or level of the information, such as restricted, confidential, or internal. Meanwhile, the security category designates the specific group or category to which the information belongs like Project A or Project B. Users are granted access solely to the information within a resource that aligns with their security labels. If a user's security label lacks the necessary authority, then access to the information within the resource is restricted.

• Access Control Lists (ACL)

An access control list comprises a set of rules utilized to allocate permissions or authorize different levels of access to files and critical business data.

Companies employ access control lists (ACLs) for data security purposes. A primary motive behind utilizing access control lists is to prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to sensitive business data. Additionally, it can serve the purpose of managing network traffic by constraining the number of users accessing files, systems, and information. This not only enhances network efficiency but also plays a crucial role in safeguarding business information.

By using these types of access controls, your IT team can effectively implement zero standing privilege and improve their security measures by minimizing the outstanding and unnecessary access that users may possess.

Revolutionize Your Access Management with Zero Standing Privilege

Zero Standing Privilege transforms access management into a streamlined, intelligent process within your organization. Rather than granting perpetual access to everyone, it operates like distributing keys only when they're necessary for a specific task. This approach not only bolsters security by minimizing unauthorized access risks but also guarantees that each individual possesses precisely the access level required for their duties. It's a contemporary and efficient method of regulating access, fortifying the entire system's safety and effectiveness.

While implementing a complete zero trust architecture might seem daunting, managing user access permissions doesn't have to be. With a tailored solution like Zluri's Access Management, IT teams can effortlessly oversee access with precision. This platform offers a straightforward mechanism for granting access to users precisely when needed, ensuring your organization's resources remain secure without impeding productivity. By embracing Zluri's Access Management, your IT team can seamlessly mitigate breach risks, protect the organization's data, and uphold a securely managed access environment.

FAQs

How Does ZSP Enhance Cybersecurity For SaaS Applications?

Zero standing privilege provides SaaS application access permissions only when absolutely necessary, promptly withdrawing them post-use. This approach significantly minimizes the potential of privilege misuse or exploitation, thereby mitigating the risk of data breaches or other security incidents that can impact SaaS apps safely. 

How Does the Zero Standing Privilege Apply To IAM (Identity And Access Management)?

Basically, identity and access management revolves around determining who has access to particular systems or data and what level of access one holds. So, what ZSP does is, it contributes to IAM strategies by minimizing the standing privileges associated with each user or system. It ensures that only essential access is granted and that too for a limited duration, thereby diminishing the likelihood of unwarranted access or actions.

What Is Standing Privilege?

Standing privilege is when certain users or roles always have privileged access rights to an organization's systems, even if they don't necessarily need them at the moment or ever. This idea goes against the principle of least privilege and zero standing privilege, which suggests that users should only get access to what they truly need for their tasks, not more.

About the author

Madan Panathula

Madan is a senior talent development partner at Adobe. He brings with him expertise from both the world of software and the world of talent. He is a guest writer for Zluri.