Introduction
Your organization faces a critical security vulnerability, and most likely, nobody knows it’s happening. Every day, IT teams are making preventable mistakes with administrative rights that create ransomware pathways, compliance violations, and operational disasters.
The irony? These mistakes are so common, they’re considered “normal.” And that’s exactly why they’re so dangerous.
This guide reveals the five most costly mistakes organizations make with admin rights—and gives you the blueprint to fix each one. By the end, you’ll understand exactly where your organization is vulnerable and what to do about it.
Mistake #1: Using Admin Accounts for Everyday Work
The Problem
The scenario happens thousands of times per day:
An IT staff member logs in with their admin account to check email, browse the internet, and handle routine tasks. They receive a phishing email with a malware attachment. They click it. One second later, their admin account is compromised.
That’s it. Your network is exposed.
Why this is catastrophic:
When an admin account is compromised, an attacker gains unrestricted access to:
- All systems on the network
- All user data and files
- All credentials and passwords
- All backup systems
- Email and communications
- Intellectual property and trade secrets
Real-world example from case study:
A financial services company discovered malware on an admin’s computer. Investigation revealed:
- Day 1: Admin downloaded malware while using admin account
- Day 6: Attacker successfully logged in with stolen admin credentials
- Day 7: Attacker created unauthorized admin account
- Day 9: Attacker deleted the original admin account and secured new account with MFA using foreign phone numbers
- Result: Complete network compromise, data theft, $5M+ in remediation costs
The key mistake: The admin was using their admin account for everyday work. If they’d used a standard account for email and browsing, the malware would have had no admin rights to escalate.
The Cost
One compromised admin account:
- Investigation and response: $500K-$2M
- Data breach notification: $100K-$500K
- Regulatory fines: $100K-$5M+
- Lost productivity: $500K-$2M
- Reputation damage: Unquantifiable
Total: $1.2M-$9.5M for one mistake
The Fix
Implement the “dual account” model:
Each admin should have TWO accounts:
Account #1: Standard User Account
- For everyday work: email, web browsing, documents
- Limited permissions (same as any other user)
- No admin rights
- Used 95% of the time
Account #2: Elevated Admin Account
- For administrative tasks only
- Full admin rights
- Used sparingly (5% of the time)
- When needed: Switch to this account, complete task, switch back
Implementation example:
Admin logs in daily with: admin.user@company.com (standard account)
- Checks email
- Reviews documents
- Reads news
- Browses web
When admin needs to perform admin task:
- Opens Advanced RunAs or equivalent
- Elevates to: admin.elevated@company.com (admin account)
- Completes admin task
- Returns to standard account
If malware compromises the standard account:
- Attacker has NO admin rights
- Can't spread, encrypt, or damage systems
- Risk contained
If malware were to compromise admin account:
- It's only at risk during the few minutes the account is active
- Limited exposure window
- Reduced overall risk
Benefits:
- ✓ 80% reduction in admin account compromise risk
- ✓ Malware can’t propagate with admin privileges
- ✓ Accidental clicks don’t damage entire network
- ✓ Meets least privilege compliance requirements
Mistake #2: Sharing Admin Passwords Among Multiple Staff Members
The Problem
The scenario:
Your IT team realizes they need to share administrator access. Instead of setting up proper controls, they create one admin account with a shared password. That password gets:
- Written on a sticky note
- Sent in an email
- Shared verbally
- Stored in a spreadsheet
- Used by contractors
- Given to new hires
- Still known by employees who left the company
Now 30 people know the password. You have zero accountability for who did what with admin access.
Why this destroys security:
Shared passwords eliminate accountability:
Admin task causes system damage
IT manager asks: "Who did this?"
Answer: "We don't know. 30 people have the password."
No accountability
No audit trail
No way to hold anyone responsible
Compliance nightmare:
Every compliance standard explicitly prohibits shared credentials:
- SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley): Requires accountability for privileged access
- HIPAA: Requires individual identifiable accounts
- PCI-DSS: “Each access to healthcare data must be individually accountable”
- GDPR: Requires traceable access to personal data
- SOC 2: Requires unique identifiable user accounts
If you’re using shared passwords and get audited, you fail immediately.
The Cost
Shared password discovery during audit:
- Audit failure: Certain
- Compliance violations: $100K-$5M in fines
- Remediation requirements: Expensive and time-consuming
- Reputational damage: Partners/customers lose confidence
- Insurance implications: May not cover breaches from shared passwords
Plus:
- Former employee knows password: Can access anytime
- Contractor still has access after leaving
- No way to identify who caused system failures
- Impossible to investigate security incidents
The Fix
Eliminate shared passwords using:
- Unique service accounts with managed elevation
Don't: Create one admin account shared by many people
Do: Create service accounts + privilege elevation tool
Example:
- Service account: svc_admin@company.com (only IT knows password)
- Users: john.admin, mary.admin, bob.admin (individual accounts, no shared password)
- When elevation needed: User requests access through Advanced RunAs
- Advanced RunAs provides elevation using svc_admin credentials (users never see password)
- Audit log shows: "john.admin elevated at 2:15 PM on Oct 30"
- Complete accountability with zero password sharing
- Active Directory groups
Create group: "Enterprise Admins"
- Add individual admin user accounts to group
- Grant elevation permissions to the group
- When user role changes: Add or remove from group
- When employee leaves: Remove from group
- No passwords to manage or share
- Complete audit trail
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
For accounts that DO need elevated access:
- Require something they know (password) + something they have (phone, security key)
- Even if password is compromised, attacker can’t access without MFA device
- Significantly reduces unauthorized access risk
Benefits:
- ✓ Complete accountability (audit shows exactly who did what)
- ✓ Passwords never shared
- ✓ Former employees can’t access after leaving
- ✓ Compliance audit pass (instead of automatic fail)
- ✓ Faster incident investigation
Mistake #3: Over-Privileged Users Creating Accidental Damage
The Problem
The scenario:
Help desk technician has full admin rights. While troubleshooting a network issue, they accidentally:
- Delete system files
- Modify critical configuration
- Disable security software
- Change settings affecting 200 other users
One accidental click. Entire organization impacted.
Why this happens:
Human error statistics:
- 88% of data breaches involve human error
- 60% of system failures caused by user mistakes
- Average cost per human error incident: $50K-$500K
When users have excessive privileges:
- One mistake affects entire network
- Damage is amplified by their privilege level
- Accidental changes cascade through systems
Real-world scenario:
Help desk tech needs to check network settings
Has full admin rights, so they have access to everything
They accidentally modify:
- Group Policy settings
- Network routing
- DNS configuration
- Security policy
Result:
- 500 users can't access email (offline for 4 hours)
- $5,600/minute × 240 minutes = $1.3M in downtime costs
- Plus reputation damage, customer notification, incident investigation
All from one accidental click.
The Cost
Typical accidental damage incident:
- Downtime: $5,600/minute × average 4-6 hours = $1.3M-$2M
- Remediation: $100K-$500K in IT time
- Business impact: Lost productivity, customer impact
- Reputation damage: "Can we trust their IT team?"
Annual cost from 5-10 incidents per year: $7M-$20M
The Fix
Implement principle of least privilege:
Instead: Give help desk tech full admin rights
Do: Give only specific permissions needed for their role
Help Desk Tech needs:
✓ Device manager (for hardware issues)
✓ Services management (for service restart)
✓ Event viewer (for diagnostics)
✓ Printer management (for printer issues)
Help Desk Tech should NOT have:
✗ Network configuration access
✗ Security policy modification
✗ Active Directory access
✗ Full system admin
Implementation:
Use Advanced RunAs to grant only necessary elevated access:
Configure in tool:
App: Device Manager → Help Desk group
App: Services Management → Help Desk group
App: Event Viewer → Help Desk group
App: Printer Management → Help Desk group
Result:
- Help desk can do their job (run these 4 tools)
- Can't accidentally break anything else
- Can't intentionally access restricted areas
- One-click elevation (no knowledge needed)
Benefits:
- ✓ Prevents accidental system damage
- ✓ Help desk stays productive (can do their job)
- ✓ Eliminates audit finding (“excessive privileges”)
- ✓ Reduces support costs (fewer system failures to fix)
- ✓ Improved system stability
Mistake #4: No Audit Trail of Admin Actions
The Problem
The scenario:
Your organization experiences a security incident. Investigators ask:
- “Who accessed the sensitive database?”
- “When was the modification made?”
- “What changes were made?”
- “Who authorized it?”
Your answer: “We don’t know. We don’t log admin actions.”
Why this is catastrophic:
Without audit logging:
- Can't investigate security incidents
- Can't determine scope of breach
- Can't prove compliance
- Can't identify insider threats
- Can't trace misconfiguration source
Compliance failure:
Every audit standard requires comprehensive logging:
- SOX: “Document all privileged access”
- HIPAA: “Audit log all healthcare data access”
- PCI-DSS: “Log all access to cardholder data”
- GDPR: “Document data access and processing”
If you’re audited and can’t produce logs, you automatically fail all compliance requirements.
The Cost
Security incident without audit logs:
- Investigation impossible: $500K-$5M extra cost
- Breach scope unknown: Can't notify all affected parties
- Compliance violation: $100K-$10M in fines
- Forensics cost: $200K-$1M
- Regulatory investigation: Months of time and cost
Incident with audit logs:
- Investigation clear: "This user accessed this resource"
- Breach scope known immediately
- Compliance audit shows logging
- Forensics faster and cheaper
- Regulatory cooperation: "We have complete logs"
The Fix
Implement comprehensive audit logging:
Every admin action should record:
✓ Timestamp (exact time to the second)
✓ User (who performed the action)
✓ Computer (which machine)
✓ Application/Task (what was done)
✓ Result (succeeded or failed)
✓ Details (parameters, modifications, etc.)
Example audit log entry:
Timestamp: 2025-10-30 14:32:15
User: john.admin
Computer: HELPDESK-04
Application: Device Manager
Result: SUCCESS
Action: Modified printer queue settings
Implementation:
Advanced RunAs captures all this automatically:
You: Deploy Advanced RunAs with logging enabled
System: Records every elevation
Result: Complete audit trail of all admin actions
Auditor: "Show me admin access logs"
You: Export report → Auditor satisfied
Export capabilities:
- CSV format for analysis
- Excel-friendly
- Searchable by user, application, date
- Compliance-ready formatting
Benefits:
- ✓ Complete incident investigation capability
- ✓ Compliance audit pass (not failure)
- ✓ Security forensics possible
- ✓ Insider threat detection
- ✓ Regulatory cooperation demonstrated
Mistake #5: Not Reviewing or Removing Unnecessary Admin Rights
The Problem
The scenario:
Your organization has been around for 10 years. Admin rights have accumulated like digital clutter:
- Employee A had admin access for a project in 2018 (still has it in 2025)
- Employee B changed roles 3 years ago (still has old admin rights)
- Contractor who left 2 years ago (still has remote admin access)
- Temporary employee elevated indefinitely (still elevated)
- Developer who moved to management (still has dev server admin)
Nobody’s reviewing or removing unnecessary privileges. You have 100 admin accounts when you need 10.
Why this is dangerous:
Each unnecessary admin account is a potential entry point:
100 admin accounts exist
- 10 are actually needed
- 90 are unnecessary
Attack surface = 90 unnecessary vulnerabilities
If attacker compromises ONE of those 90:
- Full admin access to network
- No legitimate reason for access (makes attack obvious)
- Employee no longer even uses their admin account (won't notice it's compromised)
Real-world impact:
A developer left company 2 years ago
Still has admin access to company systems
Now works for competitor
Logs in to old access
Copies source code
Steals trade secrets
$10M lawsuit
Could have been prevented by: Removing access when employee left
Compliance finding:
Auditors audit admin access and find:
Auditor: "Why does this former employee still have admin access?"
You: "We forgot to remove it"
Auditor: "That's a critical security finding. Automatic audit failure."
The Cost
One compromised unnecessary admin account:
- Breach discovery: $500K (if you're lucky enough to discover it)
- Investigation: $500K-$2M
- Remediation: $250K-$1M
- Regulatory notification: $250K-$1M
- Regulatory fine: $100K-$5M+
- Reputational damage: $5M+
One incident could cost: $6M-$15M+
Multiply across 90 unnecessary accounts: Exponentially worse risk
The Fix
Implement quarterly access reviews:
Every 90 days:
1. Export list of all accounts with admin rights
2. Verify each account still needs that access
3. Update records for any role changes
4. Remove access for:
- Employees who left
- Changed roles (no longer need it)
- Unused for 90+ days
- Retired from projects
Automated process:
Step 1: Generate admin account report
- Account name
- When created
- Last used
- Justification for access
Step 2: Review each account
- Does this person still work here?
- Do they still need this access?
- Have they used it in last 90 days?
Step 3: Take action
- Remove unnecessary access
- Update documentation
- Move admin accounts to appropriate tier
Step 4: Schedule next review
- Calendar reminder in 90 days
- Ongoing process
Benefits of regular reviews:
- ✓ No unnecessary admin accounts
- ✓ Reduced attack surface
- ✓ Immediate removal when employees leave
- ✓ Compliance audit pass (“We review every 90 days”)
- ✓ Reduced risk of insider threats
The Pattern: Why These Mistakes Happen
All five mistakes share a common root cause:
Lack of proper tools and processes
Organizations try to manage privilege elevation using:
- Manually sharing passwords (Mistake #2)
- Native Windows tools (complex, incomplete)
- Spreadsheets and email (chaos and no audit)
- Manual reviews (forgotten, inconsistent)
Result: Organizations default to convenient but insecure approaches
They give everyone admin rights (Mistakes #1, #3), because it’s easy and requires no management.
The Solution: Advanced RunAs
Advanced RunAs addresses all five mistakes simultaneously:
Mistake #1: Using Admin Accounts for Everyday Work
Advanced RunAs Solution:
- Enables dual-account model (standard + admin)
- Users work in standard account
- One-click elevation when needed
- Returns to standard account after
- Result: Compromised standard account doesn’t expose admin
Mistake #2: Sharing Admin Passwords
Advanced RunAs Solution:
- Stores credentials securely (users never see password)
- Elevation provides access without password sharing
- Group-based permissions (not individual)
- Passwords can change without disrupting users
- Result: No shared passwords, complete accountability
Mistake #3: Over-Privileged Users
Advanced RunAs Solution:
- Define exactly what applications each user can elevate
- Grant only necessary permissions
- All other applications remain blocked
- Users can’t accidentally access restricted functions
- Result: Least privilege without productivity loss
Mistake #4: No Audit Trail
Advanced RunAs Solution:
- Comprehensive logging of every elevation
- Timestamp, user, computer, application, result
- Export reports for compliance audits
- Searchable logs for investigation
- Result: Complete forensic capability
Mistake #5: Unnecessary Admin Access
Advanced RunAs Solution:
- Centralized console of all elevated access
- Easy to audit who has what permissions
- Group-based (remove from group = lose access)
- Quick access review process
- Result: No stale or unnecessary privileges
Quick Assessment: Where Is Your Organization?
Rate your organization (score each 0-5, where 5 is best practice):
Question 1: Do your admins use separate standard and admin accounts?
☐ 0 = Everyone uses admin account for everything
☐ 1 = Some admins separate accounts
☐ 2 = Most admins separate accounts
☐ 3 = All admins separate accounts, but not enforced
☐ 4 = All admins separate accounts, policy enforced
☐ 5 = Separate accounts with single-click elevation tool
Question 2: Are admin passwords shared among multiple people?
☐ 0 = Yes, very common
☐ 1 = Yes, but trying to reduce
☐ 2 = Shared with "need to know" only
☐ 3 = Rarely shared (emergency only)
☐ 4 = Not shared (using elevation tool)
☐ 5 = Never shared (automatic elevation, no password needed)
Question 3: Do users have only the minimum permissions needed?
☐ 0 = Widespread admin rights
☐ 1 = Most have admin rights
☐ 2 = Some have limited elevation
☐ 3 = Mostly limited (90% have appropriate permissions)
☐ 4 = Limited privilege for all (except IT staff)
☐ 5 = Strict least privilege (only necessary permissions)
Question 4: Do you have comprehensive audit logs of admin actions?
☐ 0 = No logging at all
☐ 1 = Minimal/basic logging
☐ 2 = Partial logging (some actions captured)
☐ 3 = Good logging (most actions captured)
☐ 4 = Comprehensive logging (all admin actions logged)
☐ 5 = Comprehensive + automated analysis/alerting
Question 5: Do you regularly review and remove unnecessary admin access?
☐ 0 = Never reviewed
☐ 1 = Rarely reviewed (ad-hoc, as problems arise)
☐ 2 = Occasionally reviewed (yearly)
☐ 3 = Regularly reviewed (semi-annually)
☐ 4 = Quarterly reviews
☐ 5 = Monthly reviews with automated tracking
Total Score: ___ / 25
Score interpretation:
0-8: Critical security risk. Immediate action needed.
9-13: Significant risk. Plan implementation this quarter.
14-18: Moderate risk. Good progress, needs completion.
19-23: Good security posture. Fine-tuning needed.
24-25: Excellent. Industry-leading security practice.
Your 30-Day Action Plan
Week 1: Assessment
- Complete the assessment above
- Audit current admin accounts
- Identify top 3 mistakes your organization makes
- Calculate potential cost of each mistake
Week 2: Planning
- Prioritize which mistakes to fix first
- Define admin account tiers
- List applications that need elevation
- Get management approval for approach
Week 3: Tool Implementation
- Evaluate Advanced RunAs
- Pilot with small group (5-10 people)
- Configure first elevated application
- Test elevation process
Week 4: Rollout and Review
- Review pilot results
- Expand to next group of users
- Schedule quarterly access review
- Plan next phase
Summary
The five mistakes:
- Using admin accounts for everyday work
- Sharing admin passwords
- Over-privileged users
- No audit trail
- Unnecessary admin access
Each costs organizations millions. Combined, they create cascading security vulnerabilities.
The fix is systematic:
- Proper tools (Advanced RunAs)
- Clear policies (least privilege)
- Regular reviews (quarterly)
- Audit logging (comprehensive)
Your organization can eliminate all five mistakes in 30-90 days using a structured approach and the right tools.
The question isn’t whether you should fix these mistakes. The question is how soon you’ll start.
Getting Started
Eliminate these mistakes with Advanced RunAs →
This week:
- Complete the assessment
- Schedule security team meeting
- Download Advanced RunAs
- Begin pilot planning
Next steps:
- Phased implementation
- Immediate security improvement
- Compliance audit readiness
- Long-term security foundation
About Steelsonic
Steelsonic develops essential security and IT management software for system administrators and security professionals.
Advanced RunAs – Implement least privilege without complexity
- Enable secure privilege elevation
- Eliminate shared passwords
- Enforce principle of least privilege
- Complete audit logging for compliance
Organizations across healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and government use Advanced RunAs to balance security with productivity.