How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Zero Trust  The principles of Zero Trust, and companies wanting to move to a Zero Trust model, has become a more common theme within the last couple of years. You hear it everywhere, and whole marketing campaigns have come and gone focused on why Zero Trust is the way to go. But what does Zero Trust actually mean for a SysAdmin in an organization who mostly deals with Windows servers and workstations?  The “Good” Old Days  In the past, we used to work with the overall belief that anything that was inside the corporate firewall was safe an ..read more

Open-Source Privileged Access Management A Solution for You? The pursuit of a more secure environment never ends. One strategy, if not currently implemented, rises to the top of the list in terms of impact—reeling in control of privileged accounts. While it may have once been less frowned upon to have a single generic admin account or to add the end user of a device’s account to the local admin group, this is no longer the case (thank goodness).   So how do IT teams keep local administrator groups free of user accounts while also providing end users with a way to elevate that isn’t t ..read more

IT Security in the Hybrid Work Era Top Insights from Recast’s Security Webinar  As the many manifestations of hybrid work continue to reshape the business landscape, how can organizations stay secure? Recast Software recently hosted a webinar with two experts to discuss the security challenges of today. Richard Campbell, a 19-year Microsoft MVP and technology consultant, and Danny Wheeler, Director of IT at Recast, shared valuable, real-world stories and insights on the shifting security landscape. The conversation touched on managing costs, the current hybrid endpoint management reality ..read more

Enhancing Cybersecurity Meeting the ACSC Essential Eight Standards  Are you an attractive target to cybercriminals? If you’re uncertain about the answer here, it’s high time you reassessed your organization’s cybersecurity strategy. Adopting the Essential Eight mitigation strategies is not just a recommendation—it’s a must.  What are The Essential Eight?  Crafted by the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), they are eight baseline strategies recommended for protecting your organization against a multitude of cyber threats. These strategies encompass application control, patch ..read more

Inside Recast Software: A Vulnerability Management Conversation  Vulnerability management has become an essential part of any company’s cybersecurity strategy. As the 2022 breach at LastPass demonstrates, even data security companies can fall victim to cyberattacks. This breach at LastPass sparked an internal discussion at Recast Software around vulnerability management, which is partially shared within this post. Recast Software takes a proactive approach to managing vulnerabilities both to protect our own company and to help our customers harden their IT environments.  Third-Party ..read more

Removing Admin Rights Quickly, Easily, and Efficiently Admin rights management is a critical aspect of maintaining a secure and efficient IT environment. However, the traditional methods of removing admin rights often come with challenges, such as complex implementation and increased service desk calls. That’s where Privilege Manager comes in. Privilege Manager simplifies the process of removing admin rights, eliminates service desk calls, and enables zero trust policies without compromising enterprise workflows and operations. This post ends with a customer story that highlights the ease of i ..read more

Contemporary malware spreads like wildfire by using the vulnerabilities created by fallible end users and incomplete systems management. Any IT environment where users’ devices have unnecessary system admin IDs is a paradise for blackmailing ransomware and the like.   If an organization wants to be as cybersecure as possible, end user rights need to be managed and distributed in a straightforward manner—no exceptions. There are several solutions available to manage end user access rights. Here we’ll take a look at Microsoft LAPS and Recast Software’s Privilege Manager ..read more

Watch Sami Laiho as he discusses what privileged access management means and provides tips on how to move closer to a zero-trust environment. Plus, get a look into Recast Software’s new PAM solution, Privilege Manager. Learn more about Zero Trust from Sami here. Privilege Manager: the privileged access management solution you've been looking for. Increase security, improve user productivity, decrease service desk tickets, and deploy equiptment faster all within Privilege Manager. Get Custom Pricing The post Zero Trust with Sami Laiho appeared first on Recast Software ..read more

We recently covered Zero Trust principles broadly. Now let’s talk more about how Privilege Manager contributes to certain areas of Zero Trust, including the principle of least privilege. Zero Trust has several areas, all of which organizations can strengthen in numerous ways. Recast’s Privilege Manager and Application Manager alone are not the keys to invincibility, but they have a very significant impact on proactive defensiveness and overall security. Principle of Least Privilege If you live in an apartment block, you do not have the master key to the entire building. In an IT environment, a ..read more

By Sami Laiho, Chief Research Officer at Truesec and Microsoft MVP in Windows and Devices for IT. Has applied the principle of least privilege in environments for over 20 years. For the past 20 years I’ve worked to solve one of the longest-lasting problems within companies when it comes to security— applying the principle of least privilege. This principle is more concisely known as “getting rid of end users’ admin rights.” There are many reasons to prioritize the principle of least privilege implementation, but the most vital is security.  False Security when Admin Rights are Abundan ..read more