Access control and authentication models
Knowing who needs access to your data and how to authenticate personnel are important to keeping your school's data secure.
Access control models
Access control is a vital component of security strategy. The goal of access control is to keep sensitive information from falling into the hands of bad actors. It's one of the best tools for organizations who want to minimize the security risk of unauthorized access to their data—particularly data stored in the cloud.
As the list of devices susceptible to unauthorized access grows, so does the risk to schools without sophisticated access control policies. Identity and access management solutions, like Microsoft Entra ID, can simplify the administration of these policies—but recognizing the need to govern how and when data is accessed is the first step.
Use these steps to help you plan for access control implementation.
Connect on goals: Align with decision makers on why it's important to implement an access control solution. There are many reasons to do this including productivity, security, and self-service.
Select a solution: Choose an identity and access management solution that allows you to both safeguard your data and ensure a great end-user experience. The ideal should provide top-tier service to both your users and your IT department—from ensuring seamless remote access for employees to saving time for administrators. Learn more in this video about role-based access control using Microsoft Entra ID.
Set strong policies: Once you launched your chosen solution, decide who should access your resources, what resources they should access, and under what conditions. Access control policies can be designed to grant access, limit access with session controls, or even block access—it all depends on the needs of your school.
Follow best practices: Set up emergency access accounts to avoid being locked out if you misconfigure a policy, apply conditional access policies to every app, test policies before enforcing them in your environment, set naming standards for all policies, and plan for disruption.
Secure user credentials
It's important to secure user credentials to protect sensitive data and prevent unauthorized access. School IT professionals can support this by implementing measures to make passwords more secure, implement single sign-on (SSO), and enable multifactor authentication (MFA).
Secure passwords
Password protection is one of the most common data security tools available to users—but they're easily bypassed if not created with hackers in mind. Schools IT professionals can facilitate better password management by implementing a password protection solution designed to block weak passwords, repetitive variants, and any terms that might be easy to guess.
Set a password policy that requires users to create strong passwords. Consider these guidelines.
Single sign-on (SSO)
With SSO, staff and students can use just one set of credentials to conveniently access all their apps. They no longer need to memorize multiple credentials or risk reusing passwords. School IT professionals can enable SSO with Microsoft Entra ID.
Before you start, make sure that you understand the requirements for SSO and how to plan for deployment. Use this SSO deployment guide to support the process.
Multifactor authentication (MFA)
MFA is an identity and access management security method that requires two or more forms of identification to access resources and data. Authentication methods include hardware tokens, push notifications, text message verification, and voice-based authentication. This gives schools the ability to monitor and help safeguard their most vulnerable information and networks.
Access and authentication best practices
In educational institutions, it's important to maintain a secure environment while ensuring access to resources. Implementing the Principle of Least Privilege and effective remote access management are common best practices for a robust security strategy.
Principle of Least Privilege
The Principle of Least Privilege dictates that users should only be granted the minimum level of access necessary to perform their job functions. In an educational setting, where a diverse range of roles exists, adhering to this principle is crucial for minimizing the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive information.
Measures to consider:
- Role-based access control (RBAC): Utilize Microsoft Entra ID's RBAC capabilities to assign permissions based on predefined roles such as educators, students, administrators, and staff.
- Granular permissions: Define access permissions at a granular level, ensuring that users only have access to resources relevant to their roles and responsibilities.
- Regular reviews: Conduct regular reviews of user access rights and permissions to ensure alignment with current job responsibilities, promptly revoking unnecessary access.
Remote access management
Remote access management enables users to securely access educational resources from any location, enhancing flexibility and productivity. Microsoft Entra ID allows school IT teams to facilitate secure remote access while maintaining control and visibility over user activities.
Measures to consider:
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA): Enforce MFA for remote access to authenticate users with additional factors such as one-time passwords or biometric verification, enhancing security.
- Conditional access policies: Define conditional access policies in Microsoft Entra ID to control access based on factors such as device health, location, and user risk level.
- Session monitoring and logging: Enable session monitoring and logging features to track remote access activities, detect anomalies, and investigate security incidents proactively.
Next steps
Review your school's access control and authentication models. Then answer these questions:
- What models, practices, and tools are currently in place to ensure appropriate access to data and information?
- Where are there areas to improve?