Being head of IT Operations in a mid-sized or big enterprise is becoming a more and more demanding challenge. 

Countless Victims

Ransom notes aren’t written with cut out newspaper letters anymore, but in computer code.

Well, the 5^th to be precise, but here’s why you should be panicking…

It feels like every week there are fresh headlines about hackers bringing organisations to their knees, and such stories always seem to be front-page news. In 2002, following a wave of high profile financial scandals driven by fraudulent accounting practices involving major US corporations including Enron, the heat was such that the government introduced the Sarbanes Oxley Act, or the SOX Act, in an attempt to restore investor confidence. Cyber-attacks have forced us to change the way we do business, and organisations must now take greater responsibility for cyber security and report cyber breaches. This is both an important and positive step because it enables government agencies to strengthen security and allows individuals to mitigate harm, but it’s only a good thing for your business if you’re prepared…

What is Privileged Access Management? 

The key is to understand the significance of the word “Privileged.”

A privileged user is someone who has administrative access to critical systems. For instance, the individual who can set up and delete email accounts on a Microsoft Exchange Server is a privileged user. The word is not accidental. Like any privilege, it should only be extended to trusted people. Only those seen as responsible can be trusted with “root” privileges like the ability to change system configurations, install software, change user accounts or access secure data. Of course, from a security perspective, it never makes sense to unconditionally trust anyone. That’s why even trusted access needs to be controlled and monitored. And, of course, privileges can be revoked at any time.