Zero Standing Privileges: Minimizing Attack Surfaces in Organizations

Restricting access to critical data and systems is the backbone of strong organizational cybersecurity. Zero standing privileges (ZSP) is an access management strategy that helps organizations limit access to resources as much as possible in order to minimize cybersecurity risks.

In this article, we’ll explore the elements of a ZSP strategy, explain the risks related to standing privileges, and examine how to implement ZSP in your organization.

What is “zero standing privileges” (ZSP)?

Zero standing privileges (ZSP), or zero standing access, is a cybersecurity principle that eliminates persistent, always-on access rights from all human and machine accounts. Instead, ZSP ensures that users receive access only temporarily and strictly according to the context of their task.

Zero standing privileges (ZSP) is the purest form of JIT, which addresses the final guidance of the principle of least privilege “at only the right time,” by eliminating the risk of standing privileges.

— Michael Kelley, Felix Gaehtgens, Abhyuday Data, “Remove Standing Privileges Through a Just-in-Time PAM Approach“, Gartner Research, 6 September 2019 (Gartner subscription required)

The ZSP model is often mentioned as the implementation of three major security approaches: zero trust, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), and just-in-time (JIT) PAM. 

Standing privileges are sustained access rights assigned to user accounts, applications, or services. Standing privileges provide access to systems and resources within an organization’s network regardless of whether they’re actively used. These privileges often apply to accounts or entities that are essential for managing IT infrastructure, but pose significant security risks when left unmanaged.

Common examples of standing privileges include:

• Personal privileged accounts — personal accounts with access to multiple systems and data available at all times. An administrator’s account is a common example of a personal privileged account.
• Service accounts — accounts configured with high-level permissions to support automated processes. Examples include service accounts that allow applications to connect to a database.
• Hardcoded credentials — passwords or keys embedded in scripts, code, or applications; for instance, scripts that automate tasks like data backups, server updates, or system monitoring often contain service account credentials. 
• Dormant accounts — inactive accounts that have retained elevated permissions. These may include unmanaged user accounts left out of regular security audits and management procedures, shadow admin accounts, or orphaned accounts belonging to former employees.
• Static network rules — unchanging configurations that allow broad access to resources or environments. For instance, you may have VPN configurations that give remote users or groups continuous access to internal resources.

While standing privileges can streamline certain tasks, they also pose a significant security risk to your organization.

Why is ZSP important?

ZSP is gradually becoming a vital element of organizational cybersecurity, especially in dynamic environments where access rights must be regularly reviewed and updated. ZSP helps organizations eliminate standing privileges by granting temporary permissions on demand and revoking them immediately when no longer needed.

With a ZSP strategy, organizations can significantly enhance organizational cybersecurity and protect critical data and systems against potential cyber threats.

Standing privileges expose your organization to threats

Standing privileges make organizations vulnerable, since accessing even a single account could be enough to compromise the whole organizational network.

Malicious external actors can gain access to legitimate accounts in many ways, including brute force or phishing. In fact, Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report shows that stolen account credentials were used in 24% of data breaches in 2023, while breaches that involved human error spiked five times compared to 2022.

Once malicious actors gain access to a personal privileged account or any other account with standing privileges, they’re free to roam your IT infrastructure looking for something to steal, damage, or use to their advantage. 

Accounts with standing privileges that have unrestricted access to systems and data, such as administrators’ personal privileged accounts, give malicious actors almost unlimited possibilities. They can steal or corrupt sensitive data, modify system configurations, and sabotage your business processes without being detected.

However, even if the compromised account doesn’t have unlimited privileges, malicious actors can use it to move laterally throughout the network and escalate privileges, eventually accessing your organization’s sensitive resources and compromising them. 

However, standing privileges are not only vulnerable to exploitation by external attackers; they can also lead to insider threats. Either intentionally or unintentionally, insiders with access to standing privileges can harm your organization even more than threats from outside.

For instance, negligent employees or vendors may mistakenly expose privileged account credentials or misconfigure business-critical applications. In turn, malicious insiders can sabotage processes, steal or damage data, or engage in fraudulent actions whether it be for personal gain or simply out of spite.

Detecting unauthorized actions taken by insiders with standing privileges is particularly challenging because, unlike external attackers, these individuals are trusted within the organization and are familiar with the organization’s infrastructure and workflows.

The benefits of ZSP

By ensuring that no account or system has nonstop privileged access, ZSP helps organizations follow the latest cybersecurity best practices and enhance their security posture. Below are the key advantages of implementing a ZSP system in your organization.

• Reduced risk of insider threats

Implementing ZSP minimizes the likelihood of insider threats by ensuring that no users or accounts have excessive and continuous privileged access. By granting just-in-time access to employees, partners, and temporary vendors, organizations can significantly reduce opportunities for unauthorized activity, whether malicious or accidental. This approach restricts insider access to only what is needed, when it is needed — thus lowering the chances of privilege abuse.

• Limited scope of potential attack damage

When an attacker infiltrates a network, their impact depends on the privileges they can exploit. ZSP enables you to narrow the attack surface by promptly revoking unnecessary privileges. This means that even if credentials are compromised, the potential damage to systems and data is contained.

• Compliance with regulatory requirements

Cybersecurity requirements in the GDPR, PCI DSS, HIPAA, and SOX stipulate that organizations must implement measures to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access and misuse. Eliminating standing privileges helps demonstrate adherence to PAM best practices, ensure compliance, and avoid legal consequences for non-compliance.

• Cyber insurance qualifications

Many cyber insurance providers are raising the bar for policy qualifications, requiring robust access control measures. By implementing ZSP, you not only enhance the security of your organization but also improve its eligibility for cyber insurance coverage. ZSP helps you demonstrate proactive risk management, potentially lowering premiums.

While the benefits of ZSP are certainly appealing, it’s important you’re clear on how ZSP functions in practice before adopting it in your organization.

How does ZSP work?

Adopting ZSP requires a combination of advanced tools and well-defined processes to ensure that access is granted securely, monitored thoroughly, and revoked promptly after use. Let’s examine the three pillars that uphold ZSP that are required for proper implementation.

Elements of ZSP

For the ZSP approach to work effectively in your organization, you’ll need to establish the following elements:

• Privilege provision workflows. First, you’ll need to develop and document workflows on how access privileges should be requested and granted in your organization. Describe how users can create access requests, and appoint specific employees to review and approve these requests. You’ll also need to define the conditions your reviewers must consider when making decisions about the provision of privileges.
• Privilege granting mechanism. Automation plays a crucial role in granting privileges efficiently. Adopting mechanisms such as those provided by PAM software, privilege elevation systems, and session management tools enable users to perform privileged tasks without the need for standing privileges. These dedicated solutions can help you enforce strict control over what tasks can be performed and under what conditions, reducing the likelihood of unauthorized actions and privilege misuse.
• Privileged activity oversight. Ensure you can log and monitor all privileged actions performed on your organization’s endpoints. Consider deploying user activity monitoring solutions, as they can capture every detail of privileged sessions, including the commands executed and apps used. These activity logs are invaluable during post-incident investigations and audits. Additionally, real-time monitoring tools can enable you to detect and respond to suspicious user activity as it occurs.

User Activity Monitoring with Syteca

ZSP in action

The provisioning of privileged access in environments with ZSP consists of several key steps. Here’s an example of what the process looks like:

Step 1. A user that requires certain privileges to work on a specific task authenticates their identity and creates an access request. In the request, they specify the permissions they need, the reason why those permissions are required, and the duration those permissions should be active for. 

Step 2. After the user submits the request, it gets processed. Either dedicated software or an assigned employee reviews the request and decides whether to grant the privileges to the user. If the system or the reviewer finds that any details of the request are contradictory, the request is rejected. As long as the request is valid, however, the user is granted the requested privileges for a limited period of time.

Step 3. The user can now work on their task using the privileges granted to them. As soon as the ZSP session begins, the monitoring solution begins tracking and recording user activity. If the user’s actions are suspicious or potentially dangerous, the software notifies security personnel.

Step 4. Once the user’s work is done or the time for which the privileges were granted is up, the permissions are revoked and no longer usable. The privileged session’s logs are saved and can be reviewed later. 

Workflows like this ensure that privileges are only available to users for a limited period of time and minimize the risk of privilege abuse and exploitation.

Implementing ZSP and protecting accounts with Syteca

Syteca is a cybersecurity platform that enables organizations to protect their inside perimeter against threats. Syteca provides the functionality to granularly manage access to organizational resources, gather the context of user activity, and promptly address security threats.

Syteca offers a range of features to help you implement ZSP in your organization, including:

• Identity management to authenticate users before granting them access permissions and ensure that only authorized individuals can obtain privileged access to specific systems and resources. Leverage two-factor authentication to secure systems and data even if account credentials are compromised.
• Privileged access management to discover unmanaged privileged accounts and provide employees, partners, and vendors with time-limited access to your organization’s endpoints. Syteca PAM allows you to configure an access request and approval workflow to enable the just-in-time approach to access provisioning.
• Password management to store secrets in an encrypted vault and securely deliver them to users without exposing passwords. Enable automated password rotation, password check-out, and one-time passwords to protect systems and data.
• User activity monitoring to oversee how users interact with your critical assets, and prevent privilege misuse by tracking activity in real time and recording user sessions. Get notifications on suspicious activity and respond quickly to potential threats, or configure automatic incident response.

In addition, Syteca lets you generate user activity reports, manage USB devices, and investigate security incidents, all while preserving user privacy.

Conclusion

ZSP provides a solid foundation for reducing your organization’s attack surface and strengthening its cybersecurity posture. By minimizing standing privileges, you can mitigate risks associated with insider threats, cyberattacks, and non-compliance issues.

Eliminating all standing privileges right away may be troublesome. You can start by removing those that pose the highest risks. With Syteca, you can take control over access privileges in your environment, increase visibility into privileged user activity, and advance your compliance efforts.