Standing Access

Standing access pertains to the continuous and unimpeded access to systems or resources, even when not immediately necessary. This form of access is commonly extended to privileged users like system administrators, and at times regular users for specific functions.

Standing access opens up a significant security vulnerability. In the event standing access credentials are compromised, unauthorized individuals may gain access to sensitive systems or resources,leading to data breaches, malware infiltration, and operational disruption.

To counteract the inherent risks tied to standing access, organizations should enforce the principle of zero standing and least privileged access, keeping users at zero standing access most of the time, and only elevating them to least privilege at the times required for them to perform their assigned tasks. Following this pattern minimizes the identity attack surface.

Employing an ITDR solution like Trustle to remediate and respond to all standing access entitlements and continue to monitor for ongoing anomalies is the best thing an organization can do to alleviate standing access and reduce attack surface.

To quickly detect and respond to users within your organization with standing privileged access, contact one of our security specialists today.