ADFS

Prioritizing Account Protection: Moving From Job Titles to Real Business Risks

When budgets are limited, companies must decide whether to protect C-level executives first or focus on employees handling critical data such as accountants, database administrators, and developers. The article outlines four practical scenarios that determine protection priorities instead of relying on corporate hierarchy. These include perimeter defense through VPN access, safeguarding email and documents against phishing, addressing unique user cases like offline executive work, and managing contractor accounts with mandatory multi-factor authentication. A protection matrix maps assets such as commercial information, infrastructure access, and privileged accounts to specific threats and controls including 2FA, DLP systems, and PAM solutions. The piece also highlights three common mistakes, such as treating tool deployment as the finish line, underestimating pilot preparation, and attempting to secure everything simultaneously. It concludes with actionable first steps: inventory accounts, disable unused ones, enable two-factor authentication for high-risk users, and expand coverage gradually.