As digital transformation initiatives accelerate across organizations globally, largely driven by the recent unprecedented shift to remote work, many now rely on cloud applications to carry out essential business activities. With cloud applications, employees are often given an increased amount of access to highly sensitive company data and information protected with sometimes only a password. Now, almost every employee can and should be classified and treated as a “privileged user,” the only difference being how much sensitive data or systems they have access to. It is important to note that not all privileged users are equal. Traditionally, this term was reserved for company executives or members of the IT team; however, this is no longer the case and presents a fresh set of security challenges to organizations.
A “privileged user” can be defined as an individual who is granted administrative and specialized access to an enterprises systems or sensitive data. They are given “privileges” within an organization to install system hardware/software, reset user passwords, have access to sensitive data and can make changes to IT infrastructure systems and settings. An individual’s access to organizational data, applications, and systems no matter how small or insignificant it may appear can be compromised and therefore must be properly secured.