Beyond IGA: How Pathlock’s Dynamic Access Controls Mitigate Access Risks in Real Time

One of the most proactive ways to secure your data is to control who has access to it. But is that enough in today’s age, where users are on the move, attacks are skyrocketing, and applications are multiplying? While traditional Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) solutions focus on provisioning access based on roles and policies, they often fail to address deeper risks associated with granted access. Simply assigning the right permissions isn’t enough; understanding and managing the risks tied to that access is crucial for safeguarding sensitive data. Pathlock’s Dynamic Access Controls (DAC) goes beyond traditional IGA by enabling organizations to manage these risks proactively with advanced features like Dynamic Data Masking, Data Loss Prevention (DLP), and Data Scrambling.

The Challenge with Traditional IGA

Traditional IGA systems excel in provisioning access based on policies such as least privilege or role-based access. These solutions ensure that users are given the right access based on their role or title within the organization. However, this method falls short when it comes to dynamically managing access risks. What happens when an employee tries to access sensitive information from an unapproved location? How do organizations ensure sensitive data isn’t copied to less secure environments during development?

Without a mechanism to continuously assess the risks of granted access, organizations remain exposed to potential data leaks, unauthorized access, and compliance violations. This is where Pathlock DAC steps in, adding an intelligent layer of dynamic control to mitigate these risks.

Pathlock’s Dynamic Access Controls: A Risk-based Approach

Pathlock DAC addresses these access challenges by introducing risk-based controls that operate dynamically, even after access has been granted. The three key components of Pathlock DAC—Dynamic Data Masking, Data Loss Prevention (DLP), and Data Scrambling—work together to protect sensitive information at all times.

1. Dynamic Data Masking: Adaptive Protection in Real Time

Dynamic Data Masking is an advanced form of Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) that ensures sensitive data is protected based on the user’s context. Even if someone has been granted access to sensitive data, Pathlock DAC dynamically assesses factors like the user’s location, role, and/or device to determine whether they should actually see the data.

For example, imagine a Denver-based finance employee who is approved to view sensitive financial data. However, if this employee attempts to access that data from an unapproved location, like Russia, the system will automatically hide the information. Similarly, even if a user is within the organization, specific sensitive data can be masked if their role doesn’t align with the security criteria. A non-director-level finance employee might see parts of the data hidden or “blanked out” because they don’t need access to the full details.

This dynamic, context-aware approach ensures that sensitive data is only visible under the right conditions, significantly reducing the risk of data exposure.

2. Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Controlling Data Export

Even if sensitive data is protected within the system, a potential security gap occurs when that data is exported. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) within Pathlock DAC ensures that only authorized personnel can export sensitive data, preventing it from being taken out of the system and shared inappropriately.

For example, Pathlock DAC can control the export of data into formats like Excel, PDF, or other file types, ensuring that only those with proper authorization can perform this action. DLP ensures that even if someone has access to the data, they cannot remove it from the system unless explicitly approved.

This capability helps organizations prevent data leaks, protect intellectual property, and ensure compliance with data privacy regulations, such as GDPR, by tightly managing who can extract sensitive data from critical systems.

3. Data Scrambling: Protecting Non-Production Environments

Sensitive data often needs to be transferred to non-production environments, such as QA or development, for testing purposes. However, non-production environments typically lack the strict access controls of production environments, creating a risk of exposing sensitive data to unauthorized personnel.

Pathlock’s Data Scrambling feature addresses this challenge by “scrambling” or anonymizing sensitive data before it is copied into lower environments. This means that while developers and testers can still use realistic datasets to test features or configurations, sensitive information, such as customer details or financial data, is obfuscated.

This protects the organization from inadvertently exposing production data in less secure environments, ensuring compliance and reducing the risk of insider threats.

Pathlock DAC: Going Beyond Provisioning to Risk Management

The key benefit of Pathlock Dynamic Access Controls is its ability to go beyond traditional access provisioning and manage risk in real-time. While traditional IGA solutions stop at ensuring users are granted appropriate access, Pathlock DAC takes it a step further by:

• Assessing risk dynamically for every access attempt based on real-time attributes like location, role, and device.
• Mitigating the risk of data exposure through data masking, ensuring that sensitive information is only visible to those who need it under the right conditions.
• Preventing data exfiltration with DLP, ensuring that only authorized individuals can export sensitive data out of the system.
• Protecting non-production environments with data scrambling, safeguarding sensitive data when it’s copied to environments with less stringent controls.

By leveraging Pathlock DAC, organizations can not only ensure that access is granted appropriately but also continuously manage and reduce the risk associated with that access. This layered approach to access control significantly improves data security, reduces the risk of compliance violations, and empowers organizations to confidently manage sensitive information in an ever-changing risk landscape.

Though IGA is a must for the current application and threat landscape, organizations cannot limit their view of risk to just static access policies. By going beyond traditional IGA, Pathlock DAC gives organizations the tools to proactively secure sensitive data, streamline compliance, and reduce the operational burden of managing access risks.

Want to know more? Schedule a demo to see Pathlock DAC in action and talk to our security and compliance experts about your data security needs.