The organization operates in an environment where sensitive data access is not logged or tracked. This gap prevents investigators from determining who accessed regulated information, increasing the risk of undetected misuse or data loss.

The organization allows users to bypasses corporate web gateways to reach unapproved or risky services. This circumvention undermines web filtering controls and increases exposure to malware, phishing, and data leakage.

The organization does not require acknowledgement of acceptable use policies. Without attestation, the organization cannot enforce accountability or demonstrate compliance in regulatory or contractual reviews.

The organization demonstrates incomplete or unassessed training progress. Without regular reviews of comprehension results, knowledge gaps persist, weakening the workforce’s ability to detect and respond to threats.

The organization enables access to regulated systems without periodic access reviews. Missing audits increase the likelihood of privilege creep, inappropriate access, and compliance violations.

The organization allows use of unapproved tools or platforms without governance. This shadow IT behavior introduces unmanaged risk and bypasses organizational controls for security and compliance.

The organization allows sharing of business information over personal accounts or messaging tools. Such activity bypasses monitoring, creating untraceable data flows and elevating risk of leakage.

The behavior of identities in the organization is not monitored with an effective user behavior analytics capability. Without baselining activity, early warning signals of insider threat or negligent misuse may go undetected.

The organization enables access to electronic protected health information in systems without role-based controls. This absence increases the chance of inappropriate access and regulatory violations under HIPAA or similar standards.

The organization enables privileged access without modern authentication such as MFA or passwordless. This gap raises compromise risk and weakens oversight of sensitive accounts.

The organization does not engage in required risk assessments. This neglect reduces awareness of vulnerabilities and leaves systemic risks unaddressed.

The organization operates under policy exceptions that are not regularly reviewed. Unchecked exceptions can become permanent risk exposures and undermine policy enforcement.

The organization approves security exceptions that lack expiration or revocation. Without lifecycle controls, exceptions may persist indefinitely, increasing exposure.

The organization enables users to continue to hold privileges after an exception should have expired. This lack of revocation prolongs risk and weakens governance over exceptions.

The organization enables users to disable or repeatedly request exceptions for endpoint protections. Repeated exceptions leave devices exposed to malware, intrusions, and regulatory non-compliance.

The organization grants remote access without mandatory controls such as MFA or compliance checks. This creates high exposure to unauthorized entry from untrusted environments.

The organization enables access to enterprise resources from personal devices without device management or risk acceptance. This practice bypasses oversight, introducing unmanaged endpoints into the enterprise environment.

The organization’s policy exceptions are not tracked centrally, leading to fragmented oversight and difficulty ensuring timely review or revocation.

The organization maintains exceptions after the risk environment has shifted. Failing to revoke exceptions promptly exposes systems to evolving threats.

The organization fails to appropriately escalate policy violations on critical systems. This failure leaves high-value assets exposed and undermines operational resilience.

The organization consistently achieves access control metrics such as adoption of passwordless logins, MFA, and training completion, demonstrating adherence to enterprise security standards.

The organization consistently achieves enterprise metrics for risk reduction, such as phishing report participation or patch compliance, strengthening overall resilience.

The organization is governed by automated systems for managing policy exceptions. Automated enforcement and revocation reduce the chance of lingering or improperly granted exceptions.

The organization is part of regular audits targeting subordinate or leadership groups. These audits validate adherence to policy and reinforce a culture of accountability.

The organization engages in organizational initiatives to promote cybersecurity culture. Participation strengthens awareness, reinforces expected behaviors, and fosters a resilient security-first mindset.