Separate identities by purpose
Do not use everyday accounts for administration. Create dedicated identities, remove standing privilege and keep emergency access separate from routine workflows.
Grant just enough, just in time
Use role-based entitlements, approval for high-impact access, short-lived sessions and automatic expiry. Service identities need the same discipline as human administrators.
Record the action boundary
Log access requests, approvals, session start, target system and important changes. Protect the evidence from the same identities being monitored.
Review what remains
- Unused privileged accounts.
- Permissions outside the role baseline.
- Long-lived keys and tokens.
- Emergency access that was not reviewed after use.
A practical outcomeA sensitive action should be attributable to one person or workload, limited in time and scope, and visible to the team responsible for the system.