Key takeaways
- User-centric security improves accountability: The approach connects devices and actions to verified user identities to strengthen access control and traceability.
- BYOD and remote work increase risk: Unmanaged devices and remote access expanded security exposure following widespread work-from-home adoption.
- Least privilege reduces unauthorized access: User-centric security limits permissions based on role requirements and supports MFA enforcement.
- MDR helps detect suspicious behavior: Monitoring login activity, device usage, and network access can identify potential threats in real time.
How many devices are you managing in your network?
That’s not a rhetorical question. A study found that 47% of companies allow employees to access their resources on unmanaged devices.
But how can you protect those unmanaged devices if you don’t even know who has access to them? Another important thought to consider is who accepts blame in the event of a breach. Hopefully, it’s not you or your team.
We’re going to discuss a strategy that makes each individual fully accountable for their actions. This is known as a user-centric approach. We’ll explore how this method works and how you can successfully implement it to strengthen your overall cybersecurity posture.
The Need for a User-Centric Approach
The rules have changed since COVID-19 introduced the WFH model. Literally, access was once granted freely without strict verification processes.
BYOD became the norm, with employees using personal devices to access confidential documents and communicate via private company Slack channels, often from a cafe or other public hotspot, without approval from IT. Yes, indeed, the cringe was quite real.
Employees and third parties enjoyed open access to the corporate network from any location and any device. This led to many security incidents and breaches, which forced organizations and IT departments to rethink how access should be granted.
This meant that any threat actor within proximity could potentially intercept all traffic and use it to launch a man-in-the-middle attack, exfiltrate data, or compromise user credentials.
Today, every device, user, and identity must be verified before accessing the corporate network. No exceptions. A user-centric approach connects the security dots back to a specific user in the organization and ensures accountability for every action taken.
A user-centric approach enables MSPs to deploy more effective BYOD policies and tighten access controls by focusing on the specific roles and needs of each user within the organization.
This involves isolating devices and implementing least privilege access, ensuring that users are granted only the minimum permissions necessary to perform their day-to-day tasks. For example, a third party providing outsourced services should not have access to financial transactions or payroll systems.
A user-centric approach greatly reduces the risk of unauthorized access or accidental data exposure that can lead to a breach. And why take that risk? Seriously.
4 Ways a User-Centric Approach Works for MSPs
Proactive threat monitoring: Suspicious user behavior, such as unusual login times or login attempts, might signal a threat actor in your network. A Managed Detection and Response (MDR) helps by continuously monitoring user activity and network traffic to detect and mitigate potential threats in real-time. An unknown user who tried to access your network from an unfamiliar location or unusual hour would be flagged by the MDR service, triggering automated alerts for further investigation.
Accountability: This refers to the ability to trace actions back to specific users. If a user attempts to access a system or application they’re not authorized to, an automated alert is sent out, notifying the security team that suspicious activity has been recorded and traced back to the individual user. Details such as the user’s identity, time of access attempt, geolocation, device type, and the resource in question all help security teams assess the situation and enforce internal policies before anything escalates.
Improved access controls: Does the junior analyst have access to financial slide decks or sensitive data unrelated to their role? A user-centric approach ensures they don’t. Instead, access is tightly controlled based on the principle of least privilege.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) also helps improve access controls by requiring users to verify their identity through a second factor, linking all actions to verified identities and ultimately to the root cause or culprit of the potential threat.
Increased endpoint security: It’s one thing to keep track of how many endpoints are in your organization, and even that’s difficult, but imagine trying to do so for an enterprise with over 5,000 employees and a ton of unvetted third parties. If that’s not challenging enough, how about the number of identities continuously being created, updated, or removed across the organization? Is your head spinning yet?
Endpoint security is a constant battle without the right tools and strategies.
A user-centric approach focuses on securing devices by connecting them directly to the identities of the users who operate them. Whether it’s on a personal laptop, iPhone, or a corporate-issued desktop, every device is treated as an extension of the user’s identity.
Every last digital step can be traced back to an individual user, providing a clear audit trail of actions taken on that device. Did that user login from a secured gateway? Did they enable MFA? Was the device running the latest Windows OS updates before they shared a sensitive file?
A user-centric approach takes the guesswork out and helps address these critical questions from the endpoint, where most security breaches begin.
Guardz ensures that company-managed devices are fully protected and monitored from malicious threats. Guardz detects outdated operating systems and vulnerable software so you can take immediate action.
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