Just-in-Time (JIT) access is rapidly becoming the cornerstone of modern identity security. By replacing high-risk standing privileges with precise, on-demand access—granting users only what they need, exactly when they need it—JIT dramatically reduces the blast radius of identity-based attacks, enforces continuous least privilege, and streamlines privileged access management.
Yet, the promise of JIT is often undermined by reliance on basic workflows and manual approvals. These processes introduce frustrating delays, hindering productivity. Reviewers, lacking crucial context, resort to rushed approvals, sacrificing security for speed. This operational friction has stalled widespread JIT adoption in enterprises.
In this blog, we'll delve into the critical importance of JIT for human identities, dissect its operational challenges, and explore how to unlock its full potential for enhanced security and accelerated business agility. In a follow up, we will address JIT access challenges for non-human identities (NHI.)
Standing privilege—persistent, 24/7 access to cloud infrastructure and applications, irrespective of actual usage—creates a significant security vulnerability. When an identity is compromised, the attack surface (blast radius) depends on the compromised identity’s entitlements. A compromised identity with excessive standing privileges dramatically expands the attack surface, and increases business impact.
Gartner research indicates that “more than 95% of accounts in [cloud IaaS] use, on average, less than 3% of the entitlements they are granted”—underscoring the prevalence of unused, excessive access. These unneeded entitlements amplify the attack surface and pose a substantial business risk.
Just-in-Time (JIT) access mitigates this risk by granting privileged access only for the required timeframe, automatically revoking it upon completion. This targeted approach minimizes the window of opportunity for attackers, significantly reducing the potential business impact of a compromised identity. Implementing JIT access also strengthens compliance posture by enforcing least privilege and providing robust audit trails required by regulations such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, and SOC 2.
The Just-in-Time (JIT) access process follows a streamlined workflow:
During an active JIT session, the user possesses both their standing privileges and the newly granted, elevated entitlements. The user's access reverts to their original standing access upon session termination.
Implementing Just-In-Time (JIT) access presents two significant hurdles:
A dev user on Reddit aptly describes this as 'JIT exhaustion': “The main problem I see is JIT exhaustion. No one is taking the time to carefully review if JIT requests are actually needed. A coworker asks for one and someone approves it, no questions asked.”
To address these challenges, some JIT access tools offer auto-approvals based on static rules. Admins are tasked with defining who qualifies for automatic access (i.e., without review and manual approvals) and under what conditions. However, this approach introduces new risks and administrative overhead:
To achieve truly effective Just-In-Time (JIT) access, organizations must move beyond basic workflows and implement a dynamic, behavior- and risk-driven solution that seamlessly balances agility and security.
An ideal JIT solution should dynamically evaluate each access request using models trained on user behavior patterns and risk profiles. Requests falling within the models' defined confidence intervals should be automatically approved. Only requests flagged as anomalous by the behavioral model should be routed for manual review, accompanied by comprehensive contextual data derived from the models.
In a well-configured system with robust behavioral and risk models, automating 80-90% of JIT requests is readily achievable. This approach significantly enhances user agility, reduces administrative overhead, and strengthens the overall security posture.
Andromeda Security provides a data-driven, AI-powered architecture that revolutionizes identity security for cloud infrastructure and applications for both human and non-human identities. We leverage real-time context, behavioral analytics, and risk signals to deliver not only intelligent JIT access, but also comprehensive visibility and actionable operational insights, automated anomaly remediation, dynamic permission rightsizing, and streamlined user access reviews.
At the core of Andromeda's contextual JIT solution are advanced AI models that continuously learn user behavior patterns, factoring in peer activity, user risk profiles, entitlement risk, and resource criticality. Requests that align with established norms are automatically approved, ensuring seamless user experience. For requests requiring manual review, Andromeda translates complex model outputs into clear, natural language context for approvers, enabling informed and efficient decision-making. This intelligent approach transforms JIT into both a critical security control and a powerful operational enabler.
Schedule a Demo to see how Andromeda can significantly reduce your identity risk and accelerate your business agility. Follow us on LinkedIn for more insights on JIT access and identity security in the cloud.
Other Relevant Resource: The Fundamentals of NHI
Just-in-Time (JIT) access is rapidly becoming the cornerstone of modern identity security. By replacing high-risk standing privileges with precise, on-demand access—granting users only what they need, exactly when they need it—JIT dramatically reduces the blast radius of identity-based attacks, enforces continuous least privilege, and streamlines privileged access management.
Yet, the promise of JIT is often undermined by reliance on basic workflows and manual approvals. These processes introduce frustrating delays, hindering productivity. Reviewers, lacking crucial context, resort to rushed approvals, sacrificing security for speed. This operational friction has stalled widespread JIT adoption in enterprises.
In this blog, we'll delve into the critical importance of JIT for human identities, dissect its operational challenges, and explore how to unlock its full potential for enhanced security and accelerated business agility. In a follow up, we will address JIT access challenges for non-human identities (NHI.)
Standing privilege—persistent, 24/7 access to cloud infrastructure and applications, irrespective of actual usage—creates a significant security vulnerability. When an identity is compromised, the attack surface (blast radius) depends on the compromised identity’s entitlements. A compromised identity with excessive standing privileges dramatically expands the attack surface, and increases business impact.
Gartner research indicates that “more than 95% of accounts in [cloud IaaS] use, on average, less than 3% of the entitlements they are granted”—underscoring the prevalence of unused, excessive access. These unneeded entitlements amplify the attack surface and pose a substantial business risk.
Just-in-Time (JIT) access mitigates this risk by granting privileged access only for the required timeframe, automatically revoking it upon completion. This targeted approach minimizes the window of opportunity for attackers, significantly reducing the potential business impact of a compromised identity. Implementing JIT access also strengthens compliance posture by enforcing least privilege and providing robust audit trails required by regulations such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, and SOC 2.
The Just-in-Time (JIT) access process follows a streamlined workflow:
During an active JIT session, the user possesses both their standing privileges and the newly granted, elevated entitlements. The user's access reverts to their original standing access upon session termination.
Implementing Just-In-Time (JIT) access presents two significant hurdles:
A dev user on Reddit aptly describes this as 'JIT exhaustion': “The main problem I see is JIT exhaustion. No one is taking the time to carefully review if JIT requests are actually needed. A coworker asks for one and someone approves it, no questions asked.”
To address these challenges, some JIT access tools offer auto-approvals based on static rules. Admins are tasked with defining who qualifies for automatic access (i.e., without review and manual approvals) and under what conditions. However, this approach introduces new risks and administrative overhead:
To achieve truly effective Just-In-Time (JIT) access, organizations must move beyond basic workflows and implement a dynamic, behavior- and risk-driven solution that seamlessly balances agility and security.
An ideal JIT solution should dynamically evaluate each access request using models trained on user behavior patterns and risk profiles. Requests falling within the models' defined confidence intervals should be automatically approved. Only requests flagged as anomalous by the behavioral model should be routed for manual review, accompanied by comprehensive contextual data derived from the models.
In a well-configured system with robust behavioral and risk models, automating 80-90% of JIT requests is readily achievable. This approach significantly enhances user agility, reduces administrative overhead, and strengthens the overall security posture.
Andromeda Security provides a data-driven, AI-powered architecture that revolutionizes identity security for cloud infrastructure and applications for both human and non-human identities. We leverage real-time context, behavioral analytics, and risk signals to deliver not only intelligent JIT access, but also comprehensive visibility and actionable operational insights, automated anomaly remediation, dynamic permission rightsizing, and streamlined user access reviews.
At the core of Andromeda's contextual JIT solution are advanced AI models that continuously learn user behavior patterns, factoring in peer activity, user risk profiles, entitlement risk, and resource criticality. Requests that align with established norms are automatically approved, ensuring seamless user experience. For requests requiring manual review, Andromeda translates complex model outputs into clear, natural language context for approvers, enabling informed and efficient decision-making. This intelligent approach transforms JIT into both a critical security control and a powerful operational enabler.
Schedule a Demo to see how Andromeda can significantly reduce your identity risk and accelerate your business agility. Follow us on LinkedIn for more insights on JIT access and identity security in the cloud.
Other Relevant Resource: The Fundamentals of NHI
