Who Should Have Administrator Rights?

Whether your business is in the e-commerce, retail, healthcare or manufacturing field, it is important to determine who should have administrator rights on your accounts. Should the list of administrators be a small, exclusive group who understands and has experience with technology, enough to identify vulnerabilities? Or should your administrator rights be expanded to employees who use accounts on a day-to-day basis? Let’s explore what administrator rights are, who should have access and what the risks are if too many people have this right.

What Are Administrator Rights?

Administrator, or admin rights as they are commonly referred to, are the highest level of permission a user can have within a system or organization. Users with this right have full access, meaning they can modify any file or setting on the computer without restrictions. Admin rights allow a user to install or uninstall software, manage hardware drivers, and change system configurations like security settings. An admin user has complete control over the system including making significant changes to network configurations. Admin users also have the ability to create, modify, and delete user accounts as well as modify any file or setting on a system.

Who Should Have Admin Access?

Given the broad range of control that an admin user has over a network business leaders should carefully consider who exactly should get that level of control. Granting too many users admin access can lead to huge security risks and the very real chance that unapproved software is installed on a system, malware is accidentally downloaded or cyber criminals are able to take advantage of vulnerabilities to gain access to sensitive business data. In an ideal world, few users should have that type of broad access to the network. Limited user rights should allow team members access to only the areas of the system they actually need for their day-to-day operations. Limited access should be granted for occasional tasks. Determining who in your organization should have this powerful access should be made with serious consideration of the individual’s experience, knowledge and understanding of the risks. Since admin rights allow for what essentially amounts to unrestricted access to a business’ system, many companies follow the principle of least privilege. This concept follows the idea that admin rights should only be given to users who absolutely need them and to use separate accounts for administrative tasks when possible Most businesses recognize that regular users should be removed from admin privileges while positions such as database administrators, the help desk, the infrastructure maintenance team and backup operators should have high-level access to do their jobs. Does your organization need help determining what positions should have admin rights? Talk to our team at Spectra Networks for more information.