Managing access to third parties, i.e. those who are not part of the company's workforce, is a real headache!
Who are these "third parties"? These are all the people who do not appear in the HRIS: trainees of less than two months' duration, temporary staff, service providers, consultants, suppliers, subcontractors and so on.
Why do these people pose a challenge to account management and security? Quite simply, because they are rarely registered in official systems, and their management remains largely manual.
Generally speaking, companies have an established process for managing the arrival and departure of their employees. But for external stakeholders, this process is often non-existent or very unclear, resulting in chaotic identity and access management.
Companies therefore face a number of challenges: ensuring the security of their information systems, limiting the risks associated with excessive access, guaranteeing efficient and fluid identity management, and meeting compliance requirements.
The challenges of third-party access management in the enterprise
Unlike permanent employees, whose access is well controlled by defined processes and integrated into HR systems, contractors and other third parties are often managed on an ad hoc basis.
However, if accounts are created (late or otherwise), the absence of uniform rules will inevitably lead to situations where users retain their authorizations long after the end of their assignment, exposing the company to the risk of compromise. What's more, service providers may accumulate several accesses on different projects, making their monitoring even more complex.
While we manage to keep a more or less rigorous track of the authorizations of people we know in the HRIS, the same cannot be said for third parties, for whom we often have no visibility.
SailPoint's 2024 study on identity security in the financial sector reveals that 80% of organizations are concerned about granting excessive access to people outside the company. What's more, 74% of companies consider identity management processes to be too complex and time-consuming, resulting in overloaded IT teams.
Manual actions remain the norm for many companies, slowing down the granting and revocation of access. This reliance on manual processes is not only a source of errors - increasing the risk of misallocating or failing to revoke authorizations - but also generates a significant human cost. IT teams spend a significant proportion of their time managing these accesses, instead of concentrating on strategic tasks. This administrative burden undermines overall efficiency and slows down responsiveness in cybersecurity.
Too often, contractors or suppliers are given more privileges than they need, increasing the risk of security breaches. Applying a strategy of least privilege allows third-party access to be limited to essential resources, thus reducing opportunities for attack.
Without precise monitoring of access at any given time, it becomes difficult to know who has access to what, and for how long. The slightest error can lead to unintentional exposure of sensitive data.
Identity management becomes even more complex in a context of strong corporate growth, whether through mergers, acquisitions or rapid workforce expansion. These events lead to a multiplication of accesses and increased difficulty in maintaining a centralized and coherent vision of identities. In the event of mergers or acquisitions, companies have to integrate new employees and service providers, whose accesses and authorizations are not always aligned with existing security policies. Without a clear framework and a suitable solution, these accesses can remain open indefinitely.
What's more, the stakes aren't just technical, they're also regulatory. With DORA and NIS 2 on the way, companies need to be able to demonstrate that they control access to sensitive data. Yet 64% of companies have had an unfavorable audit finding due to a lack of control over identity management.
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Best practices for securing access for external users
It's essential to understand that access management requires a structured, proactive approach. Indeed, without a clear view of users, their accounts, their privileges and the processes in place, it becomes impossible to ensure a response to both users and the company's security needs. I'd like to take a look at a number of measures designed to strengthen governance and minimize the risks associated with third-party access.
Integrate third parties into the IT perimeter with an IAM solution.
The first step in securing third-party access is an appropriate IAM (Identity and Access Management) solution. Such a solution centralizes identity and access management by providing a single user repository. At Youzer, for example, several forms enable HR or managers to manually add a future user, so that he or she can obtain rights and access at the right time. This unified repository ensures optimum visibility of users, whether they come from HR sources, Excel files or specific forms.
Automate processes to reduce risk
According to the Identity Security Report, 48% of companies want to replace manual processes with automated solutions. Once an IAM repository is in place, it becomes possible to automate access management according to requirements and defined rules. This makes it possible to assign access dynamically, revoke it automatically at the end of an assignment, and avoid human error.
Rigorous access management requires clear policies: regular certification of rights, auditing of access and separation of critical privileges.
As you can see, in-house identity management leads to frustrations such as manual processes and little automation = a big waste of time.
Account management and problems come a close second, with a lack of visibility in IT accounts and anomaly detection almost impossible unless time-consuming manual work is carried out.
Grant temporarily limited access
Rather than granting permanent privileges, companies need to promote temporary access with automatic expiry. However, without a clear vision of who is there, this step is totally impossible. This is why forms are so useful: with this information, it's easy to define an access deadline, and to ensure that access is deactivated at the end of the assignment.
Rather than granting permanent privileges, companies should favor temporary access with automatic expiry. This reduces the attack surface and avoids the accumulation of unnecessary authorizations.
- Enhancing security with Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
- Requiring strong authentication for all third-party access limits the risk ofidentity theft and protects critical resources.
- Protecting the supply chain
- Third parties play a key role in the corporate ecosystem. A compromised provider can become a gateway for cyberattacks. It is therefore essential to integrate supplier access management into an overall security strategy.
- Onceaccess has been assigned and automated, it's crucial to carry out a periodic review of accounts and access rights. Once or twice a year, companies should audit active accounts to ensure that only legitimate users still have authorizations. This measure enables obsolete access to be detected and removed, thus limiting security risks.
- Each time a third party leaves, access must be revoked immediately. Processes must be defined to ensure that no external user can log on again after the end of their assignment.
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Case studies and threat scenarios
Granting access to third-party users represents a major risk if good practice is not followed. It is essential to limit access to only the necessary information, and not to collect more data than is necessary. Increased monitoring of external users must also be put in place to avoid potential compromises.
Cost of manual actions to manage outsiders
Over and above the cybersecurity challenges, managing third-party access entails considerable human and organizational costs. Each access request involves repeated exchanges between managers, service providers and IT teams, lengthening lead times and mobilizing precious resources. Without an automated process, IT departments have to manually manage the creation, modification and deletion of accesses, resulting in excessive workload and increased risk of errors. This operational inefficiency has a direct impact on productivity and internal costs. So, even in the absence of a cyber-attack, these cumbersome and time-consuming processes need to be optimized to ensure greater agility and control.
Examples of cyber attacks on external service providers
Computer attacks exploiting third-party access are rife. A recent example concerns French retailers Boulanger and Cultura, victims of a massive leak of customer data in 2024. The compromise came from an external IT service provider common to both companies, demonstrating just how vulnerable the digital supply chain can be.
In another striking case, in November 2024, the weekly Le Point suffered a data leak in which a hacker claimed possession of the personal information of 900,000 people. This attack was made possible by a flaw in a customer relationship management tool used by one of the newspaper's subcontractors. These incidents illustrate how a lack of control over third-party access can have serious consequences in terms of cybersecurity. An emblematic case is that of the attack on Target in 2013, where cybercriminals managed to break into the company's system via an HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) service provider. This breach led to the theft of over 40 million credit card details. This incident illustrates how poorly controlled third-party access can compromise an entire organization.
Other similar incidents have been reported in various sectors, including healthcare and finance, where provider and supplier accesses have been exploited to exfiltrate sensitive information.
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Conclusion
Managing third-party access is a critical issue for companies. The lack of standardized processes and reliance on manual actions creates considerable risks: overly permissive access, lack of visibility over users, and delays in revoking rights. These flaws open the door to cyber-attacks, as illustrated by the many recent incidents involving external service providers.
In the face of these challenges, automation is the only viable approach to guaranteeing security, efficiency and compliance. A robust IAM solution can centralize identities, apply strict governance rules and ensure fluid access management. Thanks to automated processes, companies can dynamically assign rights, limit access over time, and guarantee immediate revocation once an assignment has been completed.
The challenge is twofold: to protect information systems while easing the burden on IT teams. By adopting a proactive, automated approach, organizations can not only reduce their attack surface, but also meet growing regulatory requirements. Automation is no longer an option, it's an imperative for securing third-party access without compromising productivity.
