- Global study indicates disgruntled former employees or other threat actors still have widespread opportunity to cause harm because their IT accounts remain active
- Eighty-one percent of respondents in Singapore lack confidence that accounts of former employees are fully deactivated in a timely manner (global: 70%)
- Almost all (93%) of respondents in Singapore say it takes a month or longer to discover forgotten dormant accounts (global: 84%)
One Identity, which helps organisations get identity and access management (IAM) right, has released a study* showing significant gaps in how organisations manage accounts used to access IT infrastructure, systems, and data — gaps that could result in major security and compliance deficiencies.
The results of the study of more than 900 IT security professionals, conducted by Dimensional Research, spotlight how common security best practices — such as timely removal of access to corporate data and applications, dormant account identification, and role administration —continue to be a challenge and concern for organisations worldwide.
A full 81% of surveyed organisations in Singapore express a lack of confidence that all former employees and employees changing roles are fully deprovisioned — or have their accounts changed or removed — in a timely enough manner. The implication is that unused accounts remain open and available with active authorisation even after an employee changes roles or leaves the organisation.
Only 7% of respondents in Singapore say they remove access for users immediately upon a change in HR status. Related findings point to concerning practices regarding management of dormant accounts. Just 4% are confident that they have no dormant accounts, while 39% are “very confident” they know which dormant user accounts exist. Of concern is that and 93% confessed that it takes a month or longer to discover these open doors into the enterprise.
Best practices demand that access be removed for employee accounts that are no longer active. In the case where an employee changes roles, access needs to be altered to provide the new access and authorisation required for the new role and remove access that is no longer needed. Oftentimes, the removal of no-longer-needed access is overlooked. When user accounts are not deprovisioned (often called dormant accounts), they are open invitations for disgruntled employees, hackers or other threat actors, who can exploit the accounts and gain access to sensitive systems and information, resulting in data breaches or compliance violations.
The user account access and management challenges are not limited to legacy systems and data, as they also are relevant for newer technologies such as file-sync-and-share services like Box and Dropbox. Only 18% of respondents in Singapore report deprovisioning access to these accounts in a centralised/automated manner. Other findings from One Identity’s Global State of IAM Study provide further evidence of the challenges organisations face with regard to managing employee access to IT resources:
- Less than a quarter of respondents in Singapore are “very confident” that user rights and permissions in their organisations are correct for the individuals’ roles.
- Nearly nine in 10 (88%) of organisations in Singapore are concerned about the risk represented by dormant accounts.
- All (99%) have a process for identifying dormant users, but only 22% have tools to aid in finding them.
- Five percent of respondents in Singapore audit enterprise roles more frequently than monthly.
“With organisations across the Asia Pacific region facing increased cyber threats, IT and business leaders need to evaluate their identity-related security strategies,” said Lennie Tan, VP & GM, One Identity, Asia Pacific & Japan. “The alarming results of our study prove that organisations in Singapore are exposing unsecured identities and creating security holes for hackers to exploit. Those that don’t adopt stronger defenses and innovative solutions to mitigate the growing risk more quickly, might face serious consequences including reputation and financial loss.”
“Exploitation of excessive or inappropriate entitlements remains a goldmine for threat actors who will then capitalise on access to gain a foothold in an organisation to steal data or inject malware. This data is a wakeup call to organisations that they need sound solutions in place now, such as One Identity Starling IARI, that accelerate the deprovisioning of access, proactively discover of dormant accounts, and help ensure appropriate access rights across the entire organization and user population,” added Jackson Shaw, Senior Director of Product Management for One Identity.
Interested?
One Identity offers a free online executive summary of the survey findings, as well as a Key Findings Report providing additional detail in graphical format.
For an illustrated look at the data, take a look at the infographic.
*The One Identity Global State of IAM Study consisted of an online survey conducted by Dimensional Research of IT professionals with responsibility for IT security as a major part of their job and were very knowledgeable about IAM. A wide variety of questions were asked about experiences and challenges with IAM. A total of 913 individuals from the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong completed the survey.
- Eighty-one percent of respondents in Singapore lack confidence that accounts of former employees are fully deactivated in a timely manner (global: 70%)
- Almost all (93%) of respondents in Singapore say it takes a month or longer to discover forgotten dormant accounts (global: 84%)
 |
| Source: One Identity Global State of IAM Study. Global responses to the question "How long does it typically take to deprovision a user?". While 66% will deactivate an account within the same day, but that might be too late. |
One Identity, which helps organisations get identity and access management (IAM) right, has released a study* showing significant gaps in how organisations manage accounts used to access IT infrastructure, systems, and data — gaps that could result in major security and compliance deficiencies.
The results of the study of more than 900 IT security professionals, conducted by Dimensional Research, spotlight how common security best practices — such as timely removal of access to corporate data and applications, dormant account identification, and role administration —continue to be a challenge and concern for organisations worldwide.
A full 81% of surveyed organisations in Singapore express a lack of confidence that all former employees and employees changing roles are fully deprovisioned — or have their accounts changed or removed — in a timely enough manner. The implication is that unused accounts remain open and available with active authorisation even after an employee changes roles or leaves the organisation.
Only 7% of respondents in Singapore say they remove access for users immediately upon a change in HR status. Related findings point to concerning practices regarding management of dormant accounts. Just 4% are confident that they have no dormant accounts, while 39% are “very confident” they know which dormant user accounts exist. Of concern is that and 93% confessed that it takes a month or longer to discover these open doors into the enterprise.
Best practices demand that access be removed for employee accounts that are no longer active. In the case where an employee changes roles, access needs to be altered to provide the new access and authorisation required for the new role and remove access that is no longer needed. Oftentimes, the removal of no-longer-needed access is overlooked. When user accounts are not deprovisioned (often called dormant accounts), they are open invitations for disgruntled employees, hackers or other threat actors, who can exploit the accounts and gain access to sensitive systems and information, resulting in data breaches or compliance violations.
The user account access and management challenges are not limited to legacy systems and data, as they also are relevant for newer technologies such as file-sync-and-share services like Box and Dropbox. Only 18% of respondents in Singapore report deprovisioning access to these accounts in a centralised/automated manner. Other findings from One Identity’s Global State of IAM Study provide further evidence of the challenges organisations face with regard to managing employee access to IT resources:
- Less than a quarter of respondents in Singapore are “very confident” that user rights and permissions in their organisations are correct for the individuals’ roles.
- Nearly nine in 10 (88%) of organisations in Singapore are concerned about the risk represented by dormant accounts.
- All (99%) have a process for identifying dormant users, but only 22% have tools to aid in finding them.
- Five percent of respondents in Singapore audit enterprise roles more frequently than monthly.
“With organisations across the Asia Pacific region facing increased cyber threats, IT and business leaders need to evaluate their identity-related security strategies,” said Lennie Tan, VP & GM, One Identity, Asia Pacific & Japan. “The alarming results of our study prove that organisations in Singapore are exposing unsecured identities and creating security holes for hackers to exploit. Those that don’t adopt stronger defenses and innovative solutions to mitigate the growing risk more quickly, might face serious consequences including reputation and financial loss.”
“Exploitation of excessive or inappropriate entitlements remains a goldmine for threat actors who will then capitalise on access to gain a foothold in an organisation to steal data or inject malware. This data is a wakeup call to organisations that they need sound solutions in place now, such as One Identity Starling IARI, that accelerate the deprovisioning of access, proactively discover of dormant accounts, and help ensure appropriate access rights across the entire organization and user population,” added Jackson Shaw, Senior Director of Product Management for One Identity.
Interested?
One Identity offers a free online executive summary of the survey findings, as well as a Key Findings Report providing additional detail in graphical format.
For an illustrated look at the data, take a look at the infographic.
*The One Identity Global State of IAM Study consisted of an online survey conducted by Dimensional Research of IT professionals with responsibility for IT security as a major part of their job and were very knowledgeable about IAM. A wide variety of questions were asked about experiences and challenges with IAM. A total of 913 individuals from the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong completed the survey.
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