Access certification, also known as access recertification or simply certification, is an integral aspect of Identity and Access Management (IAM). In today’s cyber environment, ensuring that users have appropriate access to systems and data has become more critical than ever, and access certification is a means of verifying this.
What is Access Certification?
Access certification is how an organization verifies and validates a user’s access rights to specific data, resources, or systems. This process involves the regular review and confirmation (or modification) of access privileges to ensure that they align with the requirements of the individual’s role within the organization and comply with the company’s security policies. This can include access to network systems, software applications, databases, and more.
Read another article about access recertification.
The Importance of Access Certification
Maintaining the proper access controls is a high-stakes concern in an age of increasing cybersecurity threats and regulatory pressures. Access certification serves several crucial functions:
- Enhances Security: The access certification process helps reduce the risk of internal threats by ensuring that employees and other users only have access to the data and systems they need to do their job. This is particularly important for mitigating the risk of insider threats, whether unintentional or malicious.
- Regulatory Compliance: Many industries are subject to stringent data access and protection regulations. Regular access certifications can help organizations comply with these regulations by providing a documented process and a trail of who has access to what.
- Reduces Access Creep: Over time, users may accumulate unnecessary or excessive access rights due to changes in job roles or specific project assignments. This phenomenon, known as “access creep,” can be mitigated through regular access certification reviews.
- Efficient User Management: Access certification enables the company to manage user access efficiently and accurately, leading to better resource allocation and productivity.
Access Certification Process
The process of access certification typically follows these stages:
- Identity Collection: The process begins by gathering a comprehensive list of all identities with company systems access. This could include employees, contractors, vendors, and other third-party users.
- Access Review: Next, managers or designated individuals review each user’s access rights. This often involves verifying whether the level of access is appropriate based on the individual’s job responsibilities.
- Certification: If the reviewer confirms that the access rights are appropriate, they are certified. Any unnecessary or excessive privileges can be revoked during this process.
- Remediation: If inappropriate or excessive access rights are discovered, these are rectified — either by removing or adjusting the access to an appropriate level.
- Reporting and Auditing: All changes, approvals, and revocations are logged and reported for auditing purposes. This is critical for demonstrating compliance with internal policies and external regulations.
Access Certification Process in IBM practical example
Access Certification (AC) is a critical process within the broader Identity and Access Management (IAM) context. It serves the purpose of verifying and validating that the right people have access to the right resources. Implementing this process requires adopting an access certification solution like the IBM® Security Identity Governance and Intelligence (IGI) platform. Here, we explore how this process works using IBM’s IGI platform.
The Basics of Access Certification with IGI
The Access Certification module within IGI is designed to implement certifications within an organization. It adheres to the Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) standard and ensures that the segregation of duty policies is followed. This module also provides a full-fledged workflow for certifying permissions given to a user via a specific role.
For instance, when new permissions (entitlements) are included in a role structure, it triggers a need for certification. When an organization merges old and new entitlements, this might generate new permissions that need administrative review.
A practical example of this can be merging two organizational units (OUs) into one, necessitating the review of roles assigned in the original OUs.
The Role Certification Workflow in IGI
Access Certification on the IGI platform supports administrators during the role certification workflow by assigning distinct scopes and responsibilities to several specific certification functions. The roles involved are as follows:
- User-Assignment Reviewer: This role is responsible for overseeing the permissions that are allocated to a specific user. They check whether a user has the necessary and appropriate permissions for their role in the organization.
- OU – Entitlement Reviewer: This role scrutinizes the entitlements assigned to an Organizational Unit. They verify if the OU has the proper entitlements that align with its functions and responsibilities.
- Entitlement Reviewer: This role is tasked with inspecting the structure of a generic entitlement. They check if the entitlements assigned across roles and users follow the principle of least privilege and abide by the organization’s security and access policies.
- Risk Reviewer: This role is critical in monitoring mitigation controls associated with user risks. They review whether risk mitigation strategies work effectively for each user based on their access privileges.
- Supervisors: This role oversees the reviewers’ activities, ensuring that all the processes are followed correctly and that all reviews are accurate and complete.
Each of these roles contributes to a holistic view of access within an organization, allowing for comprehensive and accurate certification of all access rights.
Challenges and Solutions in Access Certification
Despite its importance, access certification is not without its challenges. It can be time-consuming, especially in larger organizations with thousands of users and numerous systems. Moreover, manual processes can lead to errors or oversights.
To address these issues, many organizations use automated IAM tools. These tools can streamline and simplify the certification process, reducing the risk of human error. They provide comprehensive visibility into user access across various systems and platforms, automate the review process, and provide the necessary documentation for auditing purposes.
Moreover, a shift towards a risk-based approach can further enhance the effectiveness of access certifications. Instead of reviewing all users’ access rights at once, organizations can focus on users with the highest level of access or those in sensitive roles, thereby reducing the effort and increasing the effectiveness of the certification process.
Conclusion
In conclusion, access certification is a critical element of IAM, serving as a cornerstone of organizational security and regulatory compliance. By validating and verifying users’ access rights, organizations can minimize risks, optimize resources, and ensure that the principle of least privilege is adhered to within their environments. While the process can be resource-intensive, advancements in IAM technology and strategies ease the burden and increase access certification’s efficiency.
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