Surprisingly, many organizations continue to rely on outdated or inadequate security concepts - often without multi-factor authentication (MFA). This results in attack surfaces that extend unnoticed across the entire network.
Protecting privileged accounts is a huge challenge for many organizations. Long provisioning cycles, manual processes for identifying privileged accounts as well as gaps in the enforcement of the least privilege principle. Simply managing privileged accounts is not enough. Without the implementation of concrete security controls, the sheer volume of access paths, users and authorizations can quickly get out of control.
Privileged accounts have far-reaching access rights to critical systems and data. Administrators, IT operations staff and DevOps teams use them on a daily basis to maintain, configure and manage software. However, it is precisely these extended rights that make such access highly attractive to attackers. If a cybercriminal obtains access data for such an account - for example through phishing or pass-the-hash attacks - the door is often wide open to the entire network. Although many companies use Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions, these often only secure access via central systems. Local logins, direct RDP connections or remote PowerShell sessions often remain unprotected - especially if there is no MFA upstream.
The consistent enforcement of MFA for all authenticated login attempts - whether local, remote or via third-party tools - is essential. Modern solutions such as those from our partner Silverfort enable this protection agentlessly and across existing infrastructures without the need to change passwords or systems.
Service accounts operate in the shadows of the IT infrastructure - they connect applications, execute automated processes and enable the smooth operation of many services. They often have far-reaching authorizations, but are rarely tied to a specific person or regularly checked. Service accounts, usually for machine-to-machine communication within Active Directory (AD) environments, are also some of the riskiest and most vulnerable accounts in your environment. These accounts are usually granted privileged access to resources and machines, effectively making them administrator accounts. Attackers use service accounts for lateral movement, privilege escalation and persistence in your network.
It becomes even more critical when service accounts perform interactive logins, not just communicating between machines, but also actively log on to systems. This often happens unintentionally, for example through incorrectly configured task scheduling or automated scripts that run with administrative rights. Such interactive service accounts usually remain undetected in traditional PAM or IAM solutions - and therefore represent an enormous security gap.
The central weaknesses of service accounts:
Precise visibility of all service accounts and their behavior is crucial. Tools like Silverfort analyze authentication attempts in real time and identify unusual or interactive logins from service accounts - to apply targeted MFA and policies. This prevents them from inadvertently becoming gateways for attacks.
Have you ever thought about how many accounts in your environment are operating outside of your visibility and control? One of the biggest weaknesses in identity security are blind spots that are often ignored or simply overlooked by organizations, but exploited by attackers - like local accounts. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently warned of their risks and recommends disabling local administrator accounts.
Local user accounts are located directly on individual workstations or servers - independent of Active Directory or other central directories. They are set up for special administrative cases or emergency access. In many cases, however, they are forgotten once they have been set up.
From a security point of view, local accounts in themselves do not pose any major security risks. However, if they are not managed properly, this can have serious consequences for the organization. The most important of these risks are lack of visibility, limited centralized management and weaker security controls. These challenges make local accounts a prime target for attackers who move laterally and elevate privileges undetected. In addition, the use of MFA for local logins has traditionally been a challenge, as traditional MFA solutions usually only cover centrally authenticated logins (e.g. via AD or cloud-based services).
The risks at a glance:
This makes local accounts a critical blind spot in an organization's identity security.
Centralized visibility and MFA support for all logins - including local accounts - is a critical component of a modern security strategy. Solutions that can also recognize and secure local authentications via protocol analyses (e.g. NTLM, Kerberos) offer a decisive advantage here.
Missing or inconsistent MFA controls are no small oversight - they can be the difference between a thwarted attack and a serious security incident. Privileged, local and service accounts in particular need special attention. Those who do not pursue a consistent authentication strategy here inadvertently open the back door into the network for attackers. Companies should act now - before someone else does.
There are modern solutions that enable MFA even where conventional tools reach their limits. With Silverfort, you get an agentless, AI-powered identity security platform that extends your existing IAM, PAM and MFA systems. The Silverfort Identity Security Playbook shows you how to build a holistic identity security strategy to stop attacks, strengthen compliance and reduce costs - without changing your existing infrastructure.
Don't waste any time! Download the free whitepaper now and optimize your security strategy!
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