policy Enterprise

User Account and Privilege Management Policy

Establish robust account and privilege controls with this comprehensive policy to reduce access risks, ensure compliance, and support secure operations.

Overview

This policy mandates structured, auditable controls for user account and privilege management across all organizational systems, ensuring access is authorized, monitored, and compliant with major security standards.

Enforced Least Privilege

Access rights and privileges are assigned strictly on a need-to-know basis, minimizing the risk of unauthorized access.

Comprehensive Scope

Applies to all user accounts, including staff, contractors, and vendors, across cloud, on-premises, and remote environments.

Robust Authentication

Mandates strong authentication with password complexity, multi-factor authentication, and controls on privileged sessions.

Read Full Overview
The User Account and Privilege Management Policy (Document P11) provides a structured and mandatory framework for controlling how user accounts and privileges are managed across all organizational information systems and technologies. Its core purpose is to ensure organizational resources are accessed only by authorized individuals, in accordance with validated roles and operational necessities. The policy recognizes and enforces key information security principles, such as least privilege and separation of duties, and mandates auditable processes for provisioning, managing, monitoring, and revoking user accounts. Applicable to all users, including employees, contractors, third-party providers, and consultants, this policy governs any system where user authentication is present. This comprehensive scope covers enterprise applications, cloud and SaaS environments, administrative systems, and remote access tools, as well as identity management (IAM) platforms. Both standard and privileged accounts fall under its requirements, with a strong emphasis on the unique identification of every account and the prevention of shared or generic account usage (except for tightly controlled emergency scenarios). Key objectives of the policy include enforcing unique, justifiable, and trackable user accounts; implementing least privilege controls to guard against excessive access rights; requiring prompt changes to account status following role changes or terminations; and centralizing account lifecycle activities for consistency and auditability. Provisions are set for proactive detection of dormant or misused accounts through regular reviews and the use of automated tools. The policy is explicitly designed to align with leading security standards (such as ISO/IEC 27001:2022, 27002:2022, NIST SP 800-53 Rev.5, EU NIS2, EU DORA, GDPR, and COBIT 2019) to meet both regulatory and best practice requirements. Roles and responsibilities are clearly defined, from the CISO's oversight and exception management role to access control managers' technical actions, department heads' access authorizations, and HR's integration with onboarding/offboarding processes. Procedures ensure account creation, modification, and deactivation are tightly governed, with privileged access subject to extra scrutiny, approvals, time restrictions, and enhanced auditing. Authentication controls, including mandatory password policies, multi-factor authentication for key accounts, session locking, and secure remote access protocols, form a core requirement, ensuring that identity verification cannot be bypassed. Robust monitoring, logging, and periodic review measures help maintain accurate account inventories and enforce compliance. Exception handling is risk-based and controlled, with emergency access scenarios ('break-glass') receiving special procedural attention. Mandatory compliance is underlined by a progressive enforcement model, including disabling access, retraining, disciplinary action, and legal escalation for violations. Integration with related organizational policies ensures a coherent approach across all information security domains, and the requirement for annual (or event-driven) policy reviews guarantees continual alignment with evolving systems, business models, and regulatory landscapes. The User Account and Privilege Management Policy is foundational to the organization’s risk management strategy, fortifying operational security and regulatory compliance.

Policy Diagram

Diagram illustrating user account lifecycle management, showing provisioning, privilege assignment, monitoring, periodic review, exception handling, and deprovisioning steps.

Click diagram to view full size

What's Inside

Scope and Rules of Engagement

Privilege Assignment and Management

Authentication and Session Controls

Third-Party and Vendor Access Procedures

Periodic Access Reviews

Exception and Risk Treatment Processes

Framework Compliance

🛡️ Supported Standards & Frameworks

This product is aligned with the following compliance frameworks, with detailed clause and control mappings.

Framework Covered Clauses / Controls
ISO/IEC 27001:2022
ISO/IEC 27002:2022
NIST SP 800-53 Rev.5
EU GDPR
5(1)(f)32Recital 39
EU NIS2
EU DORA
59
COBIT 2019

Related Policies

Access Control Policy

Establishes the overarching access control principles and mechanisms, including rule-based and role-based controls.

Onboarding And Termination Policy

Provides procedural steps for initiating and terminating user access aligned with HR actions.

Information Security Awareness And Training Policy

Reinforces user responsibilities for account security and credential safeguarding.

Data Classification And Labeling Policy

Guides access levels based on data classification, ensuring privilege boundaries align with sensitivity tiers.

Logging And Monitoring Policy

Ensures audit trails are collected for all account-related activities and reviewed to detect anomalies or unauthorized usage.

Incident Response Policy

Governs escalation, containment, and post-incident actions in cases of privilege misuse or unauthorized account activity.

About Clarysec Policies - User Account and Privilege Management Policy

Effective security governance requires more than just words; it demands clarity, accountability, and a structure that scales with your organization. Generic templates often fail, creating ambiguity with long paragraphs and undefined roles. This policy is engineered to be the operational backbone of your security program. We assign responsibilities to the specific roles found in a modern enterprise, including the CISO, IT Security, and relevant committees, ensuring clear accountability. Every requirement is a uniquely numbered clause (e.g., 5.1.1, 5.1.2). This atomic structure makes the policy easy to implement, audit against specific controls, and safely customize without affecting document integrity, transforming it from a static document into a dynamic, actionable framework.

Clear Accountability by Role

Specifies granular responsibilities for CISO, IT admin, HR, managers, and vendors, clarifying approval and audit chains.

Automated Onboarding & Offboarding

Requires IAM integration with HRMS for timely, automated provisioning and deactivation of user accounts.

Trackable Exception Management

Formal, risk-based process for exceptions, ensuring all deviations are documented, approved, and auditable.

Frequently Asked Questions

Built for Leaders, By Leaders

This policy was authored by a security leader with 25+ years of experience deploying and auditing ISMS frameworks for global enterprises. It's designed not just to be a document, but a defensible framework that stands up to auditor scrutiny.

Authored by an expert holding:

MSc Cyber Security, Royal Holloway UoL CISM CISA ISO 27001:2022 Lead Auditor & Implementer CEH

Coverage & Topics

🏢 Target Departments

IT Security Compliance

🏷️ Topic Coverage

Access Control Identity Management Privileged Access Management Compliance Management
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User Account and Privilege Management Policy

Product Details

Type: policy
Category: Enterprise
Standards: 7