To minimize the risk of privilege abuse, a trend in the privileged access management (PAM) solution market is to implement just-in-time (JIT) privileged access. This approach to privileged identity management aims to mitigate the risks associated with prolonged high-level access by granting privileges temporarily and only when needed, rather than providing users with continuous high-level privileges. By adopting this strategy, organizations can improve security, minimize the window of opportunity for potential attackers, and ensure that users access privileged resources only when necessary.
What is JIT and why is it important?
JIT privileged access provisioning involves granting privileged access to users on a temporary basis, consistent with the concept of least privilege. This principle provides users with only the minimum level of access needed to perform their tasks, and only for as long as they need to do so.
One of the key benefits of JIT provisioning is its ability to reduce the risk of privilege escalation and minimize the attack surface for credential-based attacks. By eliminating persistent privileges, or the privileges an account has when not in active use, JIT provisioning limits the window of opportunity for attackers to exploit these accounts. JIT provisioning stops attackers’ reconnaissance attempts by adding users to privileged groups only when active access requests occur. This prevents attackers from identifying potential targets.
How to implement JIT provisioning with Safeguard
Safeguard, a privileged access management solution, offers robust support for JIT provisioning across multiple platforms, including Active Directory and Linux/Unix environments. With Safeguard, organizations can create regular user accounts within Active Directory, without special privileges. These accounts are then placed under Safeguard management, remaining in a disabled state until activated as part of an access request workflow.
When an access request is created, Safeguard automatically activates the user account, adds it to designated privileged groups, such as domain administrators, and grants the necessary access rights to the account. Once the access request is completed, either through a configured timeout period or through the user checking their credentials, the user account is removed from privileged groups and disabled, minimizing exposure to potential security threats.
How to improve JIT provisioning with active roles
When paired with Active Roles ARS, One Identity’s market-leading Active Directory management tool, organizations can take the security and customization of their JIT provisioning to even greater levels. Active Roles enables more sophisticated JIT provisioning use cases, allowing organizations to automate account activation, group membership management, and Active Directory attribute synchronization.
For example, a Safeguard access request workflow can trigger active roles to not only activate user accounts and assign privileges, but also update virtual attributes within Active Directory and synchronize changes across the environment.
Conclusion
Just-in-time provisioning of privileged access is a critical component of a comprehensive privileged access management strategy. By implementing JIT provisioning, organizations can reduce the risk of privilege misuse, improve security, and ensure that users access privileged resources only when and for as long as necessary. The combination of Safeguard and Active Roles allows organizations to implement robust JIT provisioning policies to strengthen security and mitigate risks.