Access Review: what it is, how it works and how to automate access reviews
- What is an Access Review
- What is the purpose of an Access Review and access reviews
- How does an Access Review process work?
- Why automate access reviews
- How to automate Access Reviews with an Identity Governance Administration (IGA) solution
- Access Review and regulatory compliance: GDPR, ISO 27001 and NIS2
- An integrated platform for Identity Governance and Access Reviews
What is an Access Review
An Access Review, or access review process, is the process through which an organization periodically verifies the permissions assigned to all users who can access systems, applications and corporate data.
In addition to employees, this activity also includes partners, suppliers and third parties. It is an essential control for managing the entire identity lifecycle, from account creation through to modification or deactivation.
What is the purpose of an Access Review and access reviews
The purpose of an access review is to ensure that each user has only the permissions required to perform their job responsibilities.
This process helps reduce security risks by preventing situations such as privilege creep, unauthorized access and the retention of unnecessary permissions by former employees or contractors whose relationship with the organization has ended.
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How does an Access Review process work?
An Access Review process generally consists of three stages.
- The first involves defining access management policies, including the identification of resources and their respective owners.
- This is followed by the review phase, during which reviewers, typically managers or resource owners, receive the list of users to be evaluated and decide whether to approve, revoke or further investigate each user’s access.
- The final stage involves remediation and reporting, with the implementation of the decisions made and the recording of the activities performed.
Why automate access reviews
Automating access reviews makes a process that would otherwise be manual much faster and more efficient, while also addressing the complexity of compliance requirements.
Automation makes it possible to schedule periodic review campaigns, send notifications and reminders to reviewers, provide automated recommendations based on user behavior, for example when a user has been inactive for an extended period, and immediately apply permission changes once the review has been completed.
How to automate Access Reviews with an Identity Governance Administration (IGA) solution
Identity Governance Administration (IGA) platforms automate the entire process by providing a centralized and detailed view of access across corporate resources, both in cloud and on-premises environments. Review campaigns are managed automatically, leaving reviewers responsible only for approving or revoking access.
Once a decision has been made, the system can automatically perform remediation activities and generate a complete record of all operations carried out to support compliance.
Access Review and regulatory compliance: GDPR, ISO 27001 and NIS2
Periodic access reviews are a fundamental requirement for meeting the obligations established by regulations and standards such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS and Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
The adoption of automated tools simplifies compliance by generating detailed reports and verifiable evidence that organizations can use to demonstrate to auditors that access controls are performed in a complete and documented manner.
An integrated platform for Identity Governance and Access Reviews
Effective digital identity management requires an integrated approach that combines Identity & Access Management (IAM) and Identity Governance Administration (IGA). In this context, Yookey and YooPoint work together to manage the entire user lifecycle, from secure authentication with Single Sign-On (SSO) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to access governance through Access Review campaigns, permission management, and onboarding and offboarding processes.
Thanks to the native integration between the two platforms, organizations can automate periodic access reviews, enforce the principle of least privilege, and simplify compliance and audit activities.
Contact our team directly for more information.
