Permissions and privileges guide

Once Domain Admin credentials are granted, DataSecurity Plus instantly starts detection, auditing, analysis, and response activities in all its licensed modules. It also allows the software to automatically install the DataSecurity Plus Agent in the target machines when they are added on the console.

However, if you don't want to provide Domain Admin credentials, follow the steps in this guide to set up a service account with the least privileges required.

Note: The minimum privileges listed below restrict DataSecurity Plus from installing the agent automatically in target computers. For information on how to install, update, or uninstall the agent manually, refer to the Agent Document.

Step 1: Create a new user for DataSecurity Plus

Log in to your Domain Controller with Domain Admin privileges. Open Active Directory Users and Computers > Right-click your domain > New > User > Name the user DataSecurity Plus.

Step 2: Assign the user with privileges common to all modules

Below are the privileges required by every edition and every module of DataSecurity Plus. These permissions should be granted first, before the permissions specific to each module are provided.

• Grant the user Full control over the product installation folder.

  DataSecurity Plus requires Full control over the product installation folder to write in the database.

  • Log in to the computer where DataSecurity Plus is installed with Domain Admin privileges.
  • Locate the product installation folder; right-click Properties > Security > Edit; add the DataSecurity Plus user, and provide Full control.

• Grant the user Full control over DataSecurity Plus' archive folder

  DataSecurity Plus requires Full control over the archive folder for storing and retrieving archived data from the database.

  To find the location of the archive folder, open DataSecurity Plus > Admin > Configurations > Archive Configuration.

  Log in to the target computer with Domain Admin privileges. Locate the folder; right-click Properties > Security > Edit; add the DataSecurity Plus user, and provide Full control permission.

• Grant the user full control over all of DataSecurity Plus' scheduled reports folders

  DataSecurity Plus requires Full control permission over the scheduled reports folder for saving scheduled reports in the specified location.

  • To find the location of a Scheduled Reports folder, open DataSecurity Plus > Admin > Schedule Reports > Modify Schedule Report. You can see the location under After Execution.
  • Log in to the target computer with Domain Admin privileges. Locate the folder; right-click, go to Properties > Security > Edit; add the DataSecurity Plus user, and provide Full control permission.

  Repeat the steps on all destination folders for scheduled reports.

• Grant the user Read & execute permission over DataSecurity Plus' alert scripts folder

  The product requires Read & execute permission on the alert scripts folder to execute predefined scripts.

  • To find the location of the alert scripts folder, open DataSecurity Plus > Configuration > Alerts > Modify Alert Profile. You can see the location under Actions.
  • Log in to the target computer with Domain Admin privileges. Locate the folder, right-click, go to Properties > Security > Edit, add the DataSecurity Plus user, and provide Read & execute permission.

• Grant the user Modify permissions over files for which Move/Delete responses are configured

  • Log in to the target computer with Domain Admin privileges. Locate the file for which Move/Delete responses are configured.
  • Right-click the file, go to Properties > Security > Edit, add the DataSecurity Plus user, and provide Modify permissions.
  • Repeat the steps for all the files for which the specified responses are configured.

Step 3: Assign the user with the privileges required by individual modules

To function as intended, each module requires some specific privileges to be assigned to the DataSecurity Plus user. Follow the steps under the modules licensed by you to assign these privileges.

1. File Audit

The steps below detail the procedure to assign the minimum privileges required by DataSecurity Plus' File Audit module.

• Make the user a member of the Power Users group

  • Log in to your Domain Controller with Domain Admin privileges. Open the Group Policy Management Console, right-click on DataSecurity Plus Permission GPO > Edit.
  • In the Group Policy Management Editor, select Computer Configuration > Preferences > Control Panel Settings. Right-click on Local Users and Groups > Add Local Group.
  • In the New Local Group Properties wizard, select Update under Action. Select Power Users group under Group Name, and add the DataSecurity Plus user.

2. File Analysis

This section details the minimum privileges required by DataSecurity Plus' File Analysis module.

• Ensure that the Local System user has Read permissions over all files to be monitored.

  By default, the Local System User has Full Control permissions. For File Analysis however, only Read permissions are required. If you wish to change the default permissions, ensure that the Local System User has Read permissions over all the files to be monitored in the file server.

3. Data Risk Assessment

DataSecurity Plus requires Read permissions to locate sensitive data (such as PII, ePHI, credit card details, and so on) in file shares.

There are two ways to grant the user Read permissions on the shares to be audited:

• Make the user a member of the Local Administrators group.

  • Log in to any computer with Domain Admin privileges. Open the MMC console > File > Add/Remove Snap-in. Select Local Users and Groups > Add > Another computer > Add target computer.
  • Select the target computer, and open Local Users and Groups. Select Groups, right-click on Administrators > Properties > Add DataSecurity Plus user.
  • Repeat the above steps for every Windows file server or cluster to be audited.

• Grant the user Read permissions in both share and NTFS permissions on every audited share.

  • Log in to any computer with Domain Admin privileges. Open the MMC console > File > Add/Remove Snap-in. Select Shared Folders > Add > Another computer > Add target computer.
  • Select the target computer, select Share, right-click on Properties > Security > Edit > Add the DataSecurity Plus user, and provide Read permission for both share and NTFS.

  Repeat the above steps for every share to be audited.

4. Endpoint DLP

DataSecurity Plus requires Local Administrator credentials for all the endpoints to be monitored. To make the DataSecurity Plus user a member of the Local Administrators group:

• Log in to any computer with Domain Admin privileges. Open the MMC console > File > Add/Remove Snap-in. Select Local Users and Groups > Add > Another computer > Add target computer.
• Select the target computer, and open Local Users and Groups. Select Groups, right-click on Administrators > Properties > Add DataSecurity Plus user.
• Repeat the above steps for every endpoint to be audited.

Note: In case you want to monitor a large number of endpoints, making the DataSecurity Plus user a Local Administrator for each endpoint is a tedious task. To simplify the process, provide Domain Administrator credentials to the DataSecurity Plus user.