Surf Security Resources

Admin Rights For Developers

Written by Amy Kenigsberg | Jan 18, 2023 6:04:54 PM

Give developers the autonomy to drive projects and maintain systems on their own - without risking your security. To perform their roles effectively, developers require access to data on a level the average employee doesn’t. Given this, it is vital that employers have a way to allow developers access without risking exposing any data to unauthorized employees or giving the developers inappropriate direct access to PII or other sensitive data.

Granting developers admin rights often leads to increased productivity and efficiency. By being able to control the development environment, developers are able to customize the environment to their needs and gain more flexibility. This allows for increased testing of new ideas and approaches, ultimately serving the company through improved experimentation and innovation.

However, granting developers admin rights comes with significant risks. By allowing developers the freedom to alter the system, risks in all areas increase - security, compliance, stability, and liability. Changing code, downloading software, and modifying settings all have the potential to alter the existing system and result in breaches, privacy compliance issues, loss or damages, and performance disruptions.

Safely Providing Access

The first step to enabling developers to safely become privileged users is gaining control over their data and application access. However, without being able to manage access control easily and simply, enterprises risk developers reaching sensitive information and potentially acting negligently or maliciously with the data.

A strong zero-trust identification and authentication process provides the ability to validate developers and their devices and gain visibility into unmanaged endpoints. This ensures that all users are who they say they are, and clearance is limited appropriately. While Authenticating to the Zero-Trust Browser, SURF performs device posture checks to make sure the device is healthy to the level that the organization requested.

Once authorized, developers will be granted application access, data access, and entry into test environments and all related tools. There they can update, alter, copy and shift-left everything they need to - with minimal risk, because of the browser’s isolation, rendering and management(DLP,phishing prevention and extension mgmt) capabilities that won’t allow the user to access or download something malicious by default. This autonomy combined with developer-specific policy management will help ensure that the code and data reaching production is secure every step of the way.

The enterprise browser provides developers with secure access and autonomy. Functioning completely independently from the device it’s on, the enterprise browser allows developers to access critical tools safely wherever, whenever, and however they want.

SURF Security is a secure entry point for development. SURF removes this risk by limiting access through a Zero-Trust architecture and strong authentication process. This method of permission-based access allows corporations the flexibility needed to ensure a secure network even with remote and hybrid developers and the BYOD infrastructure. SURF protects the developer and employer alike so neither is sacrificing their data for the other's comfort.