The more access users have to your company’s data, the more vulnerable that data is in the event of a data breach. A malicious actor gaining access to one of your employee’s credentials gives them access to everything that employee is allowed to see. That’s why you need to restrict the access that users have to only what they need to perform their jobs.

We’re talking about implementing something called “least privilege.” Effectively, it means that users are granted the lowest level of access they can be given while still having access to the data they need to do their jobs. Nobody has admin privileges over their own workstation. Rank-and-file employees don’t have access to payroll data. Nobody has access to the password information for the entire business.

Yes, implementing least privilege will reduce your flexibility in certain situations. But requiring users to seek permission from a supervisor or manager when they need temporary higher-level access – a step that should add mere minutes to a task – is a small price to pay for how much more secure your business data will be.

For more information, resources, and a transcript of this episode, check out the original post.