What is Birthright Access?
Birthright Access refers to the accessibility rights and privileges that an individual gains by default based on their role within an organization. When an employee or a user is onboarded in a company or a system, they are automatically authorized access to certain resources, data, or tasks pertinent to their job function. This ensures that users have the appropriate access necessary to fulfill their professional responsibilities from the start of their engagement with an organization. Birthright Access delineates a baseline access level for each defined role and establishes a ground control for effective Identity and Access Management (IAM).
Why Birthright Access Exists?
The concept of Birthright Access exists to streamline the user onboarding process and define the foundational access permissions that come with each organizational role. This not only saves time and resources by negating the need for access right requests and approvals upon every new user addition but also reduces the risk of granting overly broad access. By keeping access allocation aligned with job function, this principle also fortifies the security posture of an organization.
Who Needs Birthright Access?
Virtually every individual aboard an organization needs birthright access – whether it's a full-time employee, a part-time worker, a freelancer, an intern, or even an automated agent in a DevOps pipeline. They need specific access relevant to their role to effectively perform their job functions. Moreover, the personnel in charge of managing access rights and cybersecurity within the organization also significantly benefit from the implementation of Birthright Access policy.
How Birthright Access Is Used and Its Prevalence?
Birthright Access is incorporated into an organization's IAM structure and policy. Typically, the human resources and IT departments work together to define a set of access rights for every role during the induction of new roles or personnel. With the permeation of SaaS and cloud infrastructure, birthright access mechanisms are now often automated and managed through dedicated IAM platforms or services.
Birthright Access in the Cloud
Within the context of cloud infrastructure and SaaS, birthright access is even more critical. As these technologies enable resources to be accessed from anywhere, controlling who has access to what becomes fundamentally significant. Considering the principles of least privilege access and just-in-time access becomes vital to minimize potential vulnerabilities and enhance cybersecurity. Therefore, in today's increasingly interconnected digital workspaces, the prevalence of implementing birthright access within IAM policies is extremely high and considered a best practice in the realm of cybersecurity.
