Remove local administrator accounts.
Enforce least privilege.
Reduce risk by removing local administrator accounts and reduce IT help desk load
Privileged Endpoint Management, or PEM, removes the need for local administrator accounts from the computers that every worker has access to every day. Traditionally this has prevented users from doing their work or caused increased workload for IT help desks.
PEM allows organisations to remove local administrator rights from users, while at the same time enabling them to have escalated privileges only for specific processes and executables. The balance tips back towards productivity while increasing the organisation’s security posture.
Local administrator accounts were often created to reduce the number of calls to the IT help desk or because some previous user needed an administrator role. But these accounts are very risky: they could allow installation of malware or be used by an attacker to gain access to the corporate network.
A common reason for granting local admin rights is to allow installation or update of applications. But IT loses control over which applications or versions are being used. Potentially malware-infected apps or unlicensed software could be installed.
Removing local admin accounts generates increased help desk calls. For example, when a user needs to install some software to do their job, they'll call the help desk. Any delay leads to loss of productivity and end-user dis-satisfaction.
Local administrator accounts are highly valued by attackers so removing them as part of a "least privilege" strategy dramatically reduces the potential attack entry points.
Running PEM in "learning mode" before enforcing control ensures that most applications that users actually need will be pre-approved avoiding the need for calls to the help desk. If additional applications are needed, a request to the help desk will have it added to a policy so there won't be a need for the request to be repeated.
Overall, IT have fewer requests for application installs or updates, they have audit trails of which applications are run with elevated privileges and end-users have a better experience.
Read this short whitepaper to see how PEM can improve endpoint security and IT help desk load.
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