1. Excessive and Unused Privileges
When someone is granted database privileges that exceed the requirements of their job function, these privileges can be abused. For
example, a bank employee whose job requires the ability to change only account holder contact information may take advantage of
excessive database privileges and increase the account balance of a colleague’s savings account. Further, when someone changes roles
within an organization or leaves it altogether, often his or her access rights to sensitive data do not change. In the latter case, if these
workers depart on bad terms, they can use their old privileges to steal high value data or inflict damage.
How do users end up with excessive privileges? Usually, it’s because privilege control mechanisms for job roles have not been
well defined or maintained. As a result, users may be granted generic or default access privileges that far exceed their specific job
requirements, or they may simply accumulate such privileges over time. This creates unnecessary risk.