What is Elevation Control?

Introduction

It is a continuous problem for IT admins to control who has privileged access. Worrying about users having too much control over their endpoints could have unintended consequences. These consequences can result in removing security protections, unnecessary application privileges, or malicious actors impersonating the user.  Ascertaining how to administer which applications can run as a local admin without giving users general local admin rights can prove challenging. To mitigate these challenges, having a solution such as Elevation Control can help provide a least-privileged approach to your cybersecurity stack.  

What Is Elevation Control?

Elevation Control allows standard users to run specific applications with local admin privileges without ever having that unnecessary privilege as a user. ThreatLocker gives the ability to select and review all applications and set privilege controls for those applications. Once those policy controls are in place, users can run the software as a local admin without providing credentials. Users can also request permission to elevate applications if needed. Elevation Control also allows IT administrators to carry out administrative tasks on your endpoints without needing to use administrative credentials, eliminating the possibility of these credentials being hijacked and used against your network.

Why Is Elevation Control Important?

Elevation Control is vital to a security stack in more ways than one. When users have local admin rights, they have the power to do almost anything they want on their endpoints. Local admin rights give users complete control over their endpoint; they can run any application with unnecessary privileges and even undo any security protections that their IT administrators may have put in place. Furthermore, an attacker who has gained access to a user’s endpoint with local admin rights can impersonate other logged-on users or exploit tools locally, which can be used to pivot into the entire network. By removing these privileges, you will maintain the protections in place, reduce your risk of vulnerabilities, and defend against attacks. All of this adds an extra layer of security without hampering productivity in the workplace.

Conclusion

Elevation Control shouldn’t be your only layer of security, but it does work well with other solutions.  The ability to remotely control the permissions of applications for other users is of paramount importance to any company.  Elevation Control helps ensure you won’t have to rely on users abusing local admin rights and focus on what matters most for your business.

If Elevation Control sounds like something you need to help control admin access, then you should consider adding ThreatLocker to your security stack. ThreatLocker has been helping companies with securing their endpoints for years and can help implement a personalized plan for you.  For more on zero-trust cybersecurity, Book a demo with a Cyber Hero to see how ThreatLocker endpoint security could be the perfect fit for your business.