Topic starter
24/07/2026 4:09 pm
TL;DR: 99% of users, roles, and services hold excessive standing permissions, while over 70% of threat activity flows through four admin protocols, making always-on privilege a lateral-movement problem as much as an access problem, according to Zero Networks. Zero standing privileges shifts the control model from persistent entitlement to time-bound access, but only if teams can map and govern every identity, including service accounts and AI agents.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by Zero Networks: “Zero Standing Privileges: What It Means, Why It Matters, and How to Implement It”.
By the numbers:
- Privileged ports are used somewhere inside the average enterprise every 10 minutes.
- More than 70% of threat activity flows through just four admin protocols.
Key questions
Q: What breaks when standing privileged access is still the default?
A: Standing privilege breaks least-privilege governance because access remains available long after the specific task has ended.
Q: Why do Windows networks with standing privilege increase lateral movement risk?
A: Windows networks with standing privilege increase lateral movement risk because an attacker who steals one hash can often reuse it across multiple systems.
Q: How should security teams phase out always-on privilege without breaking operations?
A: Start with the identities and pathways that create the largest exposure, then move to time-bound access for approved tasks.
Practitioner guidance
- Inventory every privileged identity Map human admins, service accounts, machine identities, and AI agents to determine where standing privilege still exists and which accounts can reach critical systems by default.
- Convert permanent privilege into time-bound issuance Replace always-on elevation with just-in-time access for administrative tasks, interactive sessions, and sensitive protocol use, then revoke access automatically when the task ends.
- Restrict privileged protocols by identity and context Apply context-aware controls to RDP, SMB, WinRM, SSH, and RPC so that only in-scope identities can use them and only for approved activities.
Bottom line: Zero standing privileges is best understood as time-bound privilege governance, not merely a stricter version of least privilege.
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24/07/2026 4:13 pm
Standing privilege is now a blast-radius problem, not just an entitlement problem. The article makes clear that excessive access is the norm, which means the real security question is how far one compromised identity can travel before it is stopped. When privileges remain always-on, the access model itself expands the attacker’s operating radius. Practitioners should treat privilege duration as a core part of blast-radius reduction.
A few things that frame the scale:
- 97% of NHIs carry excessive privileges, increasing unauthorised access and broadening the attack surface, according to the Ultimate Guide to NHIs.
- 91% of organisations say at least half of their privileged access is always-on, and only 1% have fully implemented just-in-time privileged access, according to a CyberArk study.
A question worth separating out:
Q: What should teams do when a service account has suspicious activity and over-privileged access?
A: Treat the event as a high-priority incident, validate the account's approved use, and assess what production systems or sensitive data it can reach before deciding on containment. A service account with stale credentials and broad access should never be handled as a routine anomaly.
👉 Read our full editorial: Zero standing privileges is the new baseline for privileged access