Unsecured Employee Access is a Growing Risk—Here’s How to Lock It Down

Employees, contractors, and partners cycle in and out faster than you can reset a password. As such, identity lifecycle management has become a game of whack-a-mole. The days when IT teams could manually manage user identities, permissions, and access are long gone. All organizations are grappling with an increasingly complex web of identities that span remote employees, third-party vendors, and a growing stack of cloud applications. With the right solution, every new joiner, role change, or departing employee becomes an opportunity to optimize access, strengthen security protocols, and improve overall efficiency.

The costs of mismanaging user access are high. Every misstep in provisioning or deprovisioning user access is a potential backdoor for cybercriminals, a security failure waiting to happen, or simply an unproductive bottleneck that wastes valuable time and resources.

So, what’s the solution? Identity Lifecycle Management (ILM) provides a streamlined approach to automate and simplify the entire employee journey—from onboarding to role changes and offboarding. By taking a proactive, automated approach to managing user identities, ILM:

• reduces the risk of human error
• delivers security gains with right-sized permissions
• increases operational efficiency by freeing up IT teams to focus on more strategic initiatives

With ILM, you can regain control, deflect operational headaches, and ultimately reduce the risk surface that threatens your organization's security posture.

The High-Stakes World of Identity Lifecycle Management

Why Identity Management Is More Complex Than Ever

Today's enterprise environment looks radically different from even a few years ago. Hybrid workforces, increasing reliance on third-party contractors, and the proliferation of cloud apps have transformed the way businesses operate. But with this transformation comes a new set of challenges. Managing who has access to what, especially across diverse teams and platforms, is becoming an ever-more intricate puzzle.

The hybrid work model is particularly problematic. Employees log in from various locations, often on personal devices, creating a complex web of access points that traditional identity management systems struggle to keep up with. Add to that the fact that organizations are increasingly dependent on third-party contractors—who need limited, temporary access—and you’ve got a high-risk situation. A report by Forrester suggests that as many as 80% of security breaches involve privileged credentials or third-party access.

As complexity grows, so do the pain points. Overworked IT teams are often stretched thin trying to manage an ever-expanding list of users and roles. Redundant access permissions become common when onboarding, promotions, or lateral moves don’t align with an organization’s role-based access control (RBAC) system. In many cases, permissions granted for one role never get revoked when an employee moves to a new position, leaving a trail of potential vulnerabilities behind.

The Risk of Manual Processes

Manual identity management processes are the Achilles heel of many organizations. With each new hire, access permissions need to be provisioned manually, often requiring IT intervention. This leaves room for human error, leading to users either getting too much or too little access—both of which are problematic. Excessive permissions can open the door to insider threats or external breaches, while insufficient permissions slow productivity and force workers to submit tickets, flooding the IT team with routine access requests.

On top of that, the slow, manual response times for handling role changes can cause serious bottlenecks. In fact, 50% of IT teams report being unable to meet access request demands in a timely manner, contributing to operational inefficiencies and security risks. The more manual steps involved in these processes, the more vulnerable they become to delays and mistakes, particularly when employees leave the company.

One of the biggest risks of relying on manual processes is orphaned accounts—when employees or contractors leave an organization, but their accounts aren’t properly deactivated. These inactive accounts often retain access to critical systems, leaving organizations wide open to attacks. Improper offboarding is a leading cause of breaches, showing that compromised credentials—many of them from abandoned accounts—are responsible for over 19% of breaches.

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Automated systems reduce human error, improve response times, and ensure that access is properly controlled throughout the employee journey—drastically lowering the risk of data breaches and compliance failures.

Self-Service Access for Critical, Time-Sensitive Needs

In traditional setups, employees often have to submit IT tickets for access requests, which can create bottlenecks, particularly for urgent tasks. By introducing self-service access portals, organizations empower users to request access to the systems they need without overburdening IT teams. This setup significantly reduces the time-to-resolution (TTR) for critical requests, improving operational efficiency across the board.

Self-service portals are especially beneficial in industries like healthcare or financial services, where employees may need rapid access to sensitive data during emergencies. These systems integrate with role-based controls to ensure that employees only request what they are authorized to access, while reducing dependency on IT staff for routine tasks.

By automating these processes, businesses can also mitigate the risks associated with human error, such as IT accidentally granting excessive permissions during manual provisioning.

Enhanced Security with Dynamic Role-Based Controls

Role-based access control (RBAC) is one of the most powerful tools in automated identity lifecycle management. Traditional RBAC systems often require manual updates, which can lead to human error and outdated permissions. In contrast, dynamic RBAC automatically adjusts user permissions based on real-time changes in their roles, responsibilities, and department status.

For example, if an employee moves to a different department, the system instantly modifies their access permissions based on predefined rules. This ensures that no one retains access to systems they no longer need, closing a critical security gap that often leads to breaches..

RBAC also strengthens an organization’s security posture by enforcing least-privilege access across the board. By automating permission updates based on roles, businesses eliminate the risk of access creep and reduce the overall attack surface. This is particularly important in hybrid work environments, where employees frequently transition between in-office, remote, and contractor roles, requiring quick yet secure adjustments to their access.

Automating the Joiner-Mover-Leaver (JML) Workflow

The Power of Automating JML Workflows

The JML workflow is an essential part of managing user identities efficiently and securely. Automating these workflows eliminates the bottlenecks and human errors that can occur during manual management of employee access, and it ensures that each user's permissions are precisely aligned with their role at any given time.

• Joiner: The onboarding process is often a source of frustration for both IT teams and new hires. Manually provisioning access to multiple systems can take days, delaying productivity. With automated JML workflows, access provisioning is based on role, department, and predefined criteria, allowing employees to hit the ground running from Day 1. Almost half (42%) of employees report struggling to access necessary tools and apps when first joining a company. Automating this process makes sure they have the right access immediately, without IT intervention.
• Mover: Role changes, promotions, or departmental shifts require dynamic adjustments to access permissions. In many organizations, this process is manual and error-prone, often leading to either excessive access or insufficient permissions. An automated JML system updates access based on real-time changes in job roles, ensuring least-privilege principles are maintained without burdening IT with yet another ticket. This eliminates the risk of "access creep," where users accumulate unnecessary permissions over time.
• Leaver: One of the most critical aspects of identity lifecycle management is ensuring that employees who leave the organization are swiftly and securely deprovisioned. Automated JML workflows guarantee that access to systems is revoked immediately, preventing former employees from retaining access to sensitive data. Considering that 25% of organizations experience breaches due to ex-employee accounts not being properly deactivated, automating the offboarding process is crucial for reducing risk.

Reducing IT Overload

Manual identity management is a time sink for IT teams, leading to an ever-growing list of tickets for access requests, role changes, and deprovisioning. A recent survey found that 57% of IT departments report spending too much time on identity-related tasks, leading to delays in addressing more strategic initiatives. Automated JML workflows deflect these routine tickets by automatically provisioning, adjusting, and deprovisioning access based on predefined workflows.

By automating the access governance lifecycle, organizations not only reduce the number of IT tickets but also improve time-to-resolution (TTR) for role changes and access permissions. When permissions are adjusted dynamically and in real-time, employees experience minimal disruption, allowing them to stay productive. As a result, IT can redirect its focus away from routine access requests toward more impactful security and infrastructure projects.

Workflow-driven solutions also ensure compliance by maintaining audit trails of all access changes, providing you with a clear and comprehensive view of who has access to what—at any time. This level of visibility is critical for security audits, ensuring that the organization can prove compliance with regulatory requirements without scrambling to gather records manually.

Automating the JML workflow creates a more secure, efficient, and compliant environment by streamlining employee transitions and reducing the operational load on IT teams. Organizations that implement automated identity lifecycle management can reduce risk, improve user productivity, and achieve long-term cost savings.

Leveraging AI-Powered Insights for Least-Privilege Access

The Role of AI in Access Governance

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing access governance by allowing IT and security teams to move from reactive to proactive strategies. Traditional methods of managing user access—manual audits, static role-based access, or even simple inactivity thresholds—are often insufficient in today’s fast-evolving enterprise environment. AI-powered analytics, however, offer a way to manage access permissions by monitoring user behavior, historical data, and patterns of inactivity.

AI excels at identifying trends that might otherwise go unnoticed. For example, it can detect unusual activity, such as a user accessing sensitive data outside their normal scope of work, which may indicate compromised credentials. By analyzing historical patterns and comparing them to current behavior, AI-powered systems can flag discrepancies in real-time, allowing security teams to intervene before any damage occurs. As such, 68% of businesses using AI in security saw significant reductions in the time to detect and respond to threats.

Another advantage of AI is its ability to continuously assess user permissions. It can automatically adjust or revoke access based on inactivity or changes in an employee’s role or responsibility. This capability ensures that users only retain the access they need, which minimizes the potential attack surface.

Maintaining a Least-Privilege Model

Enforcing least-privilege access is one of the most effective ways to mitigate risk in an organization. The principle of least-privilege dictates that users should only have the minimum access required to perform their job functions, reducing the risk of insider threats and limiting the damage that can be done if an account is compromised. Despite the clear advantages, many organizations struggle to implement least-privilege at scale. Manual enforcement is not only time-consuming but also prone to error, leading to "permission creep," where users accumulate more access than necessary as they take on new roles or projects.

This is where AI comes in. AI-powered systems can continuously monitor user activities and permissions, adjusting access based on real-time changes. If an employee’s role changes, the system will automatically revoke any unnecessary permissions and grant the correct ones based on the new role. If an account shows signs of inactivity, AI can suggest or automatically revoke access, ensuring orphaned accounts are not left with open permissions. Automated least-privilege enforcement using AI can reduce the attack surface by as much as 40%.

Real-World Example: How AI Cuts Down on Risk

Let’s consider a hypothetical scenario where AI helps prevent a potential security incident. Imagine a large organization with hundreds of contractors cycling in and out of projects. Without AI, managing the access of these temporary workers would likely lead to delays in deactivating accounts or, worse, leaving some accounts active long after the contractor’s departure.

In this case, an AI-powered system notices an inactive contractor account that has not been used for over 60 days. It automatically flags the account, revokes unnecessary access, and notifies the IT team. Had this gone unnoticed, the account could have remained active, posing a serious risk if a bad actor had attempted to exploit the old credentials. 34% of data breaches stem from insiders or credential misuse, often involving orphaned accounts.

Incorporating AI into access governance workflows allows organizations to stay ahead of these risks by automating least-privilege enforcement and detecting anomalies before they become major security incidents.

Prioritize Identity Lifecycle Management Now

Failing to streamline these processes exposes organizations to significant risks. Over 60% of security breaches are tied to credential misuse or improper access governance and the costs associated with these breaches can be astounding—up to $4.76 million per incident. On top of that, manual identity processes are notoriously inefficient, often leading to IT backlogs and human error, which could further compromise an organization’s security and productivity.

By automating identity lifecycle management, you can close these gaps. Automation enables real-time adjustments to permissions, ensuring that access is always in line with the least-privilege model. It cuts down on IT tickets, reduces manual errors, and ensures compliance with regulations. This kind of streamlined, secure identity management empowers IT teams to focus on more strategic initiatives while improving overall operational efficiency.

Take Action

At Lumos we’ve built a modern, streamlined solution for ILM, designed to tackle the inefficiencies and security gaps that plague traditional systems.

We automate JML provisioning, which means that new employees, contractors, or interns get instant access to the tools they need based on their role or department—no manual approvals required from IT. This dramatically speeds up onboarding and allows teams to be productive from day one.

On top of that, our platform ensures that access creep is a thing of the past. As users change roles or leave the organization, their access is dynamically updated or revoked, minimizing the risk of lingering permissions that could expose your organization to security threats.

Our solution also simplifies the management of RBAC and attribute-based access control (ABAC). By automating access through policies tied to roles, attributes, or group memberships,  the Lumos platform ensures users always have the right level of access—and nothing more. As a result, your security teams gain peace of mind knowing access is tightly managed, while your IT teams save valuable time by not having to manually configure permissions.

If you’re ready to move away from manual processes that drain resources and expose your organization to risk, now is the time to act. Join our upcoming webinar to see these principles in action. We’ll walk you through how to automate (JML) workflows and show you how to implement ILM to save time, reduce risk, and keep your organization compliant.

Through a live demo, you'll discover how AI-powered insights, dynamic role-based access controls, and self-service portals can transform your identity management processes. You’ll also learn how these tools help maintain a least-privilege model that adjusts permissions dynamically, minimizing both security risks and operational inefficiencies.

Register for the webinar and take the first step towards securing your organization’s identity management processes while streamlining your IT operations.

The future of identity lifecycle management is here—now it’s your move.