Security research finds that removing admin privileges could be a great security measure

Feb 18, 2014 22:46 GMT  ·  By

Companies that decide to remove administrator privileges on employee computers could mitigate as much as 92 percent of all vulnerabilities found in Microsoft software, including Windows and Internet Explorer.

This is what a new study conducted by “privilege management” software company Avecto and published by Computing today reveals, adding that admin rights could grant an attacker who successfully exploits a computer the power to install new software and change system settings.

If the employer, however, removes administrator privileges, he can block up to 96 percent of critical security flaws in Windows and 100 percent of Internet Explorer glitches, the research noted.

“It's astounding just how many vulnerabilities can be overcome by the removal of admin rights,” Paul Kenyon, co-founder and executive vice president of Avecto, said. “The dangers of admin rights have been well documented for some time, but what's more concerning is the number of enterprises we talk to that are still not fully aware of how many admin users they have.”