This policy establishes mandatory controls for managing the entire lifecycle of user accounts and privileges across all IT systems. It ensures access is granted based on validated identity and role necessity, enforcing the core principles of least privilege and separation of duties.
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Enforce Least Privilege: Assign users the absolute minimum level of access required for their job functions, drastically reducing the attack surface.
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Govern Privileged Accounts: Implement strict, auditable controls for administrative and root-level accounts, including separate accounts and enhanced monitoring.
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Automate Lifecycle Management: Integrate with HR and IAM systems to ensure user accounts are provisioned, modified, and revoked in a timely and error-free manner.
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Streamline Access Reviews: Conduct mandatory quarterly reviews of all user accounts and privileges to identify and remove dormant or excessive access rights.
Read Full Overview
The User Account and Privilege Management Policy is a comprehensive framework designed to secure and manage user access across an organization's information systems. This policy is crucial for ensuring that user accounts are created, modified, and deactivated in a controlled manner, thereby supporting the organization's commitment to information security. By enforcing principles such as least privilege and separation of duties, the policy minimizes the risk of unauthorized access, privilege misuse, and insider threats.
What's Inside
- Purpose and Scope
- Roles and Responsibilities
- Governance Requirements (RBAC, PAM)
- Policy Implementation Requirements
- Account Provisioning & Deprovisioning
- Periodic Access Reviews
- Risk Treatment and Exceptions
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:
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 | Clause 6.1.3, Clause 8.1 |
| ISO/IEC 27002:2022 | Controls 5.15-5.18 |
| NIST SP 800-53 Rev.5 | AC-1, AC-2, AC-5, AC-6, IA-2-IA-5, AU-2, AU-12 |
| EU GDPR | Articles 5(1)(f), 32; Recital 39 |
| EU NIS2 | Articles 21(2)(a, d), 21(3) |
| EU DORA | Articles 5, 9 |
| COBIT 2019 | DSS01, DSS05, APO13 |
Part of a Complete ISMS Toolkit
This policy is one of 37 documents in our complete toolkit. When implemented as a set, our framework helps you achieve comprehensive compliance across major standards.
100%
ISO 27001
95%
NIST
88%
NIS2
75%
DORA
70%
GDPR
Related Policies
This policy works in conjunction with the following documents to enforce a coherent, risk-based identity and access management framework.
Access Control Policy (P4)
Establishes the overarching access control principles and mechanisms.
Onboarding & Termination Policy (P7)
Provides procedural steps for initiating and terminating user access.
Information Security Awareness & Training Policy (P8)
Reinforces user responsibilities for account security and credential safeguarding.
Data Classification and Labeling Policy (P13)
Guides access levels based on data sensitivity, ensuring privilege boundaries align.
Logging and Monitoring Policy (P22)
Ensures audit trails are collected for all account-related activities.
About This Policy
The Clarysec User Account and Privilege Management Policy provides a robust, auditable framework for controlling who has access to what within your organization. It operationalizes critical security principles like least privilege and separation of duties, ensuring that every user account—from standard employees to third-party vendors and system administrators—is managed securely throughout its entire lifecycle.
By implementing this policy, you create a defensible system for account provisioning, deprovisioning, and periodic access reviews. It establishes clear rules for managing privileged access, requiring separate administrative accounts, enhanced monitoring, and just-in-time principles. This is essential for mitigating insider threats, preventing privilege creep, and satisfying the stringent identity and access management (IAM) requirements of ISO 27001, GDPR, DORA, and NIS2.
