Ultimate Guide to User Access Review [Infographics + Checklist]

In 2021, the case of insider exploitation made it to the headlines of the news. Nickolas Sharp, a senior developer at a New York-based technology company that manufactured and sold wireless communication products, misused his privileged access to steal confidential data, damage the company's reputation, and extort his employer close to $2 million.

Sharp, disguised as an anonymous hacker using a VPN to mask his identity, stole data and demanded a ransom of $2 million. When his employer refused to pay this, he leaked a part of the stolen files. He planted fake news to manipulate public perception of the company, causing the company's stock to lose over $4 billion in market value.

This is just one of the numerous cases of user access violation that showcases the need for user access reviews. This guide will explore what a user access review is, why it is essential, and how to conduct it.

What is a User Access Review?

A User Access Review (UAR) is a security procedure that involves periodic review of users' credentials and privileges to systems, applications, and data and limiting access to only those necessary for their job roles. The goal is to ensure that access rights and permissions are up-to-date and that all users can access only the resources needed to perform and excel at their duties.

Why is User Access Review Important?

Just like the case with Nickolas Sharp, a 2022 report on a data breach by Verizon also revealed that 82% of data breach reports were often associated with a human element, which employee misuse was a part of. It is for this reason that user access reviews are important. Here are five benefits of user access reviews:

Data Security

User access reviews ensure the security of organization data by limiting access to sensitive information to only authorized individuals who genuinely need it. Thus, the company’s confidential data, such as intellectual property, financial records, and customer information, is better protected from exposure or theft.

Operational accountability

By conducting user access reviews, you are creating a transparent system of accountability within your organization. Managers are involved in approving and justifying user access. This practice promotes a culture of responsibility while reducing the risk of privilege abuse.

Compliance Adherence

For most industries, organizations must comply with certain compliance regulations, such as GDPR, HIPAA, SOX, etc., most of which mandate the conduct of user access reviews. By conducting user access reviews within your organization, you position your organization in a better light to pass these audits and avoid penalties for non-compliance.

Insider Threat

The case of Nickolas Sharp was a clear case of insider threat. When user access reviews are conducted, insiders with many or outdated access rights are identified, and such cases are addressed. This minimizes the risk of malicious or accidental sensitive data or systems misuse.

Resource Management

When user access reviews are conducted, unnecessary and redundant account controls are identified and removed. Deactivating the accounts of former employees also reduces licensing costs for software, cloud platforms, and any other tools connected to such users.

Types of User Access Reviews

There are two primary types of user access reviews, both of which are essential for the complete security of your data.

Periodic User Access Reviews

An organization conducts Periodic user access reviews at regular intervals to evaluate and confirm user access permissions. These reviews are focused on verifying that current user access rights correspond with each user role's requirements. They involve gathering user access data for managers and system administrators to review and address all outdated and excessive access permissions.

Companies use periodic user access reviews to meet regulatory or industry compliance standards like GDPR, SOX, or PCI-DSS, and they are part of a broader security framework.

Continuous User Access Review

Unlike periodic user access reviews conducted at regular intervals focusing on compliance, continuous user access reviews are ongoing and aim to minimize security risks. They monitor organizational changes such as user role, behavior, or access patterns and immediately detect and address security issues rather than waiting for a scheduled review.

Continuous user access review often leverages tools and software to detect these anomalies and flag potential risks as soon as they arise, thus reducing insider threats.

User Access Review Processes [Infographics]

Conducting user access reviews involves several processes. This section will explore each process and why it is important.

Identification

This is a critical step in the process as the organization is first required to identify necessary resources, which include IT systems, applications, and sensitive data requiring validation. In this step, the scope of the review is determined by deciding which user groups and access levels to include. The identification process ensures that the review targets the most critical resources and aligns with the security goal of the organization, such as reducing risks or meeting compliance requirements.

Data and Access Collection

This step involves collecting detailed information about all users in the organization, their roles, and their permissions across organizational systems and applications. The data collected in this stage can include login credentials, assigned roles, access levels, and activity logs. Collecting user and access data creates a comprehensive inventory of who has access to what and ensures that no user or system is overlooked.

Review and Validate Access

This step examines users' access permission to ensure all access controls and permissions align with their job responsibilities. Managers, IT admins, or system owners assess users to ensure they only have access to data and systems required to execute their job roles, adhering to the principle of least privilege. Reviewing and validating user access reduces threats, ensures compliance, and strengthens overall organizational system security.

Remediation

The remediation stage is part of the user access review process that ensures all access rights are cleaned up and aligned with organizational needs. It involves revoking excessive permissions that do not match a user's job role. In this stage, all job roles and permissions are updated to reflect the current task or job role, and dormant accounts are deactivated.

Documentation

The documentation phase involves recording everything done during the user access review. It includes noting all permissions reviewed, changes made, and the reasons behind them. Creating detailed reports is essential to providing transparency and accountability for the process, as these reports are also shared with stakeholders and kept ready for compliance audits.

Verification

This step involves double-checking to ensure that permissions are updated as planned and that no errors occur during the process. It adds an extra layer of accountability and prevents mistakes from impacting security. This aims to ensure that all updates to user access within the organization are correctly implemented.

Continuous Monitoring and Followup

As part of the user access review process, establishing continuous monitoring and follow-up ensures that user access remains secure and up-to-date. An ongoing monitoring and follow-up process strengthens your organization's security and ensures it is ahead of compliance regulations.

Best Practices for Effective User Access Review [Checklist]

To create effective user access review processes, follow the best practices below.

Conduct Regular Access Reviews

Scheduling user access reviews should be an adopted practice to verify that access permissions are appropriate and up-to-date. Regular reviews help identify and remove excessive, outdated permissions and minimize security risks.

Automate the Review Process

Utilize tools and software to automate access reviews as much as possible. Automating user review access can help your organization identify anomalies, flag irregularities, and ensure consistency in managing user access across all departments.

Document the Process

When carrying out user access review, make it your goal to document everything you do. Detailed records and reports of who can access what and any changes made during the review should be done. This serves as a measure of building transparency with stakeholders, helps you easily catch up on who has new access rights and why, and also for a compliance audit.

Involve Departmental Stakeholders

When planning a user access review, it is often important to involve the departmental stakeholders. Rather than allowing only the IT team to conduct the review, the stakeholders of each department should be involved, as they are in a better position to have a deeper understanding of what is needed in their teams, who should receive access, and to what resources. This also sets up a system of accountability and transparency.

Privileged account Monitoring

Due to their excessive access rights, privileged accounts such as administrators, managers, and system developers should receive high access scrutiny. Regular audits of their activities and permissions are encouraged for these roles to ensure that everything adheres to compliance rules and that your organization's resources are safe.

Challenges in User Access Review

Most companies face many challenges when conducting user access reviews. The 2024 State of User Access Review report by Zluri discussed the common challenges experienced, which can be grouped into the five categories discussed below.

Resource Intensive Process

User access reviews aren’t easy processes that can be done quickly. They depend heavily on resources and demand significant time, effort, and tools. To conduct user access reviews, organizations need to dedicate specialized staff to manage them, diverting resources and attention from other critical tasks. This practice can strain budgets, especially for large corporations with complex systems. Smaller organizations may also struggle with this as they lack the resources to handle the processes effectively.

Stressful Manual Update

After successfully identifying the necessary changes and access permissions, each user's access level must be updated. Manually updating these access permissions can be overwhelming. When a company lacks centralized tools that can handle the automation of this task, it often relies on administrators to update permissions one after the other. This approach is not only labor intensive but also likely to result in mistakes.

Missed Deadlines due to Complexity

User access reviews require gathering data from multiple systems, applications, and departments, which is often complex and time-consuming. You would agree that different tools and platforms store user access information in different formats, making it difficult to consolidate the data for review. In addition, the process often requires communication with various stakeholders across departments, which can also slow down the process.

Limited Visibility

Organizations often struggle to track exactly who has access to which applications and how other applications are used. Without clear visibility, some employees may retain access to systems or data they no longer need, creating potential security loopholes. This can also cause organizations to waste resources on underutilized applications that must be revoked.

Difficulty Generating Audit Evidence

Post-review audits are crucial to the user access review process as organizations must provide evidence and demonstrate that access reviews were conducted and the necessary changes were made. Access review processes often require compiling and validating data from various sources. Evidence collection becomes even more difficult without a structured or automated process, as it may require piecing together information from different sources. A bigger caution comes into play as organizations need to ensure that all evidence meets the necessary compliance standards, which can be a challenge if records need to be completed or organized.

User Access Review Automation Tools

Here are five tools that remove and automate the burden of user access review processes.

Pathlock

Pathlock’s access certification module reduces the risk of excessive user access permissions within your organization while cutting access review costs. It offers services such as cross-app access reviews, campaign segmentation, one-click approval/revocation, detailed usage insights, and an easy-to-integrate SaaS solution.

Secureframe

Secureframe has a personnel management tool that automates user access reviews. It includes services such as automating personnel onboarding and offboarding, tracking tasks and sending reminders, monitoring vendor access, and creating and managing groups to allow easy role assignment.

Zluri

Zluri offers the service of automating user access reviews by providing efficient capabilities for easier automation. Its automated platform collects all relevant data needed to begin the access review process, eliminating the time-consuming part. Zluri gives you 100% visibility into who has access and what apps they can access.

Drata

Drata is another tool that helps automate user access review and risk management processes by sending alerts for any new risks spotted. This helps you create a treatment plan and address any risk concerns before they grow big enough to pose a threat to your organization and business.

Vanta

Vanta’s access review tool automates user review access processes. It offers organizations stronger access management, faster, automated, and simplified processes, and a reduced overall cost of user licenses.