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Shared control area · counts toward 8 standards
Access control & least privilege
Access control ensures that only authorized users have the minimum level of access necessary to perform their job functions. Frameworks require this to prevent unauthorized data exposure, limit the blast radius of a compromised account, and ensure accountability.
Implement it once
- Establish a Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) matrix mapping specific job titles to required system permissions.
- Implement a formal onboarding and offboarding process that triggers access granting and immediate revocation upon termination.
- Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for all users accessing systems containing sensitive data.
- Schedule and execute periodic access reviews (e.g., quarterly) where managers verify that current user permissions are still required.
- Use a centralized identity provider or Single Sign-On (SSO) solution to manage and audit credentials across multiple applications.
Evidence it produces
- A documented RBAC matrix or permission schema.
- Time-stamped logs of access requests and the corresponding management approvals.
- Signed or digitally approved reports from periodic access reviews showing who was reviewed and what changes were made.
- Termination checklists proving that system access was revoked within the required timeframe after an employee left.
Where it counts
Because identity management is a foundational security requirement, these artifacts satisfy the core access requirements of almost every major security framework. Standardizing this process allows an organization to provide the same set of evidence to different auditors regardless of the specific certification being pursued.