Local council systems and data stores contain a vast amount of confidential information on data subjects who live within a borough or county. This presents local authorities with a considerable responsibility to protect the members of its community and the data it retains on them.
When securing any data, managing access to information is key. In the following sections, we’ll look at two different types of privilege access management that may be useful to local councils.
Just-in-time admin
A systems administrator will traditionally use credentials to access a dedicated admin interface. Possessing these credentials relates the user with a set of high-privilege functions. A system then accepts this relationship, allowing the systems admin to perform high-privileged tasks.
The problem arises when an attacker steals such credentials, as this gives them high-privilege access. An attacker that is able to use these credentials can cause substantial harm to a system and the data it contains.
“Just-in-time” administration can help. Rather than inputting credentials and receiving immediate access to an admin interface, it creates a request for access instead. When a request is granted to access high-privilege areas, credentials are only issued temporarily to a systems administrator.
Just enough admin
An administrator’s credentials often grant exceptionally high-level permissions, with access often described as a ‘superuser’, ‘root’ or simply ‘administrator’ level. Unfortunately, if an attacker obtains this level of access, they can cause a range of harmful actions, accessing, stealing or deleting data, or even turning off critical systems.
These credentials allow admins to perform any activity on the system, but in truth, they rarely need complete access. Instead, access should only be given to system areas and data essential to a specific task to limit risk.
“Just enough” administration is another name for the concept known as “least privilege”. In this approach, admin roles are predefined, and access is granted only to parts of the system required for a particular function to be performed.
A workspace where staff can operate safely
Council admins looking to tighten up data security while maintaining a smooth workflow can look to Galaxkey’s secure workspace for strong support. Our system offers attackers no backdoors to access confidential databases and records, and it stores zero passwords that can be obtained and misused by malicious actors.
Ensuring all data that is kept on file, shared with colleagues or transmitted to other authorities is well protected, our system boasts robust encryption. While easy for council team members to use, this solution adds three layers of encryption, making certain that information is indecipherable to cybercriminals, whether it is contained in an email and its attachment or stored on a server.
Our system also features electronic signature capabilities, allowing councils to observe and display proof of any activity involving a data file. It also provides ideal support for those seeking to validate user access when a protocol like privilege management is being used onsite.
Get in touch with our expert team today to explore how you can safeguard data within your local borough with an online demonstration and free, 14-day trial.
