When an employee parts ways with your organization, do you ensure their access to your IT infrastructure is promptly revoked? Are you confident in your ability to verify this?
Consider the potential risks if former employees retain access to their credentials. They could access sensitive information such as client data, proprietary research, or financial records. This could be detrimental to your business, especially if they use this information to benefit their new employer or to harm your company.
The threat escalates if the employee left on bad terms. They could potentially use their access to deploy ransomware, viruses, or other harmful software. Moreover, even if the former employee has no malicious intent, their compromised records could fall into the wrong hands.
Centralized Access Control: Your Defense Against Unauthorized Access
To protect your business from such threats, implement robust access control measures. These measures regulate who can access and modify your data, and when and how they can do it.
Effective access control begins with a solid company policy. As part of your HR offboarding process, ensure the immediate cancellation of the departing employee’s credentials, similar to how you would deactivate their door code and retrieve their keys.
However, manual revocation of credentials can be time-consuming and prone to human error, especially if the employee had access to multiple systems or used numerous unique passwords. An overlooked system or missed step could leave an account open unintentionally.
A more secure alternative is a centralized password management and access control system. This provides comprehensive visibility into all your systems and a single point to manage permissions. You can quickly see who has access to which systems, and instantly revoke any privileges when an employee leaves your company.
By implementing effective access control procedures, you can enhance the security of your data and systems, giving you peace of mind.
