User Access Reviews for Small Businesses: A Practical Permissions Checklist

A user account can outlive the reason it was created.

Employees leave. People change roles. Vendors finish projects. Temporary administrator access becomes permanent. Shared logins spread because they are convenient. Recovery phone numbers point to former staff. New software gets added without anyone reviewing old permissions.

A user access review is the process of comparing current accounts and privileges with the people, vendors, devices, and business responsibilities that actually exist today.

SMART Solutions provides Cybersecurity Protection focused on devices, access, network exposure, and practical risk reduction. A Network & Security Assessment can also help identify account, administrator, remote-access, and technology gaps before remediation is prioritized.

Quick answer: what is a user access review?

A user access review is a structured check of identities, accounts, groups, roles, permissions, and administrative privileges to confirm that access still matches an approved business need.

NIST CSF 2.0 includes the outcome that access permissions, entitlements, and authorizations are managed, enforced, and reviewed using principles such as least privilege and separation of duties. NIST’s current implementation examples recommend reviewing logical and physical access periodically and when someone changes roles or leaves the organization, then promptly removing privileges that are no longer needed.

Source: NIST — CSF 2.0 Implementation Examples

For a small business, an access review may cover:

• Email and identity accounts
• Cloud applications
• File shares and cloud storage
• Servers and workstations
• Firewalls, switches, wireless systems, and VPNs
• Backup consoles
• Security cameras and access-control systems
• Phone systems
• Website, domain, DNS, and marketing platforms
• Accounting, payroll, payment, or line-of-business applications
• Vendor and remote-support accounts

The review should focus first on accounts that can expose sensitive information, change security controls, move money, administer other users, or interrupt critical operations.

1. Start with a current roster of people and relationships

An account review is difficult when the organization does not have a reliable list of who should still have access.

Start with:

• Current employees
• Owners and executives
• Contractors
• Temporary staff
• IT providers
• Software vendors
• Accountants, payroll providers, or other specialists with system access
• Former employees or vendors whose accounts may still exist

Then compare that roster with actual accounts in each important system.

This is a reconciliation exercise: who exists in the business, who exists in the technology, and where do those lists disagree?

An IT asset inventory can help identify the applications, cloud services, devices, and management systems that need to be included so the review does not stop at the main email platform.

2. Find terminated and inactive accounts

Former-employee accounts should not remain active simply because nobody remembered every system they used.

Review recent departures and verify that access was handled across:

• Email
• Cloud applications
• VPN and remote access
• File storage
• Business software
• Local workstation accounts
• Administrator consoles
• Phone systems
• Website and domain administration
• Physical access systems when applicable

The FTC has specifically warned that former employees’ network access should be blocked promptly after departure rather than waiting for a periodic cleanup.

Source: FTC — Start with Security, and Stick with It

Do not automatically delete every account immediately if the business needs to preserve email, files, audit history, or ownership of work. Disable access first according to the organization’s retention and handoff process, then handle data preservation deliberately.

3. Review access after role changes

A promotion or transfer often causes privilege accumulation.

The employee receives access for the new role while retaining permissions from the previous one.

For each significant role change, ask:

• What access did the old role require?
• What does the new role require?
• Which permissions should be removed?
• Which new permissions are justified?
• Does the user still need administrator rights?
• Do shared folders, groups, or application roles need to change?

NIST’s current CSF implementation examples explicitly call for access review when someone changes roles and for rescinding privileges that are no longer needed.

Access management works better when role changes trigger a review automatically instead of waiting for an annual cleanup.

4. Separate ordinary use from administrator access

Administrator accounts deserve extra attention because they can change configurations, create users, disable controls, export data, or affect many systems at once.

Inventory privileged access to:

• Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or other identity platforms
• Servers and directories
• Firewalls, switches, and wireless controllers
• Backup platforms
• Endpoint-management and security consoles
• Phone systems
• Websites, DNS, and domains
• Accounting or financial platforms
• Line-of-business applications

Ask whether everyday work really requires those rights.

Where practical, users with privileged responsibilities can use separate standard and administrative identities so email and routine web activity are not performed with elevated access.

NIST CSF 2.0’s PR.AA-05 outcome incorporates least privilege and separation of duties into access management.

5. Include vendor and contractor access

Vendor accounts are often missed because they do not appear on the employee roster.

The FTC recommends giving vendors access only on a need-to-know basis and only for the time needed to perform the work.

Source: FTC — Vendor Security

Review:

• Which vendors can access the network or sensitive systems
• Whether the business relationship is still active
• Whether the account is shared among vendor staff
• Whether access is always enabled or activated when needed
• What systems the vendor can reach
• Whether MFA is required
• Whether activity is logged
• How access is removed when the relationship ends

Our business VPN and remote-access security checklist covers vendor remote access, approved tools, network permissions, device security, logging, and offboarding in more detail.

6. Check MFA strength and account recovery

An account can have MFA enabled and still have a weak recovery path.

Review both sign-in and recovery:

• Which accounts have MFA enabled
• Which high-risk accounts still rely on passwords alone
• Which MFA method is used
• Whether recovery email addresses are still valid
• Whether recovery phone numbers belong to current authorized people
• Whether backup codes are stored securely
• Whether administrators can bypass MFA without oversight
• Whether emergency-access methods are documented

CISA recommends requiring MFA wherever possible and prioritizing administrator, remote-access, and sensitive accounts.

Source: CISA — Require Multifactor Authentication

For accounts that support stronger options, our phishing-resistant MFA guide explains passkeys, FIDO security keys, WebAuthn, and why not all MFA methods resist phishing equally.

7. Identify shared accounts and unclear ownership

Shared accounts weaken accountability because the system may show that FrontDesk, Admin, or Office performed an action without identifying the person.

Not every shared technical identity can be eliminated. Some service accounts, device accounts, or emergency credentials may be necessary.

The review should distinguish:

If a shared account cannot be removed, document why it exists, who is authorized to use it, how the credential is protected, and how access is changed when authorized people leave.

8. Review service accounts, integrations, and API access

Some of the most powerful identities are not used by a person at all.

Applications may use service accounts, API keys, integration users, application passwords, or tokens to exchange data.

Review:

• What the identity is used for
• Which application owns it
• Which systems it can access
• Whether the permission scope can be reduced
• How credentials or keys are stored
• When the secret was last rotated when rotation is supported and appropriate
• Whether the integration is still active
• What breaks if the account is disabled

Do not disable an unfamiliar service account without understanding the dependency first.

The purpose of the review is to identify ownership and unnecessary privilege without breaking legitimate automated workflows.

9. Verify firewall, network, and security-console administrators

Infrastructure accounts deserve their own review because they can change the boundaries protecting the rest of the environment.

Include administrator access for:

• Firewalls
• Routers and switches
• Wireless controllers
• VPNs
• Endpoint-security consoles
• Camera and access-control management
• Backup administration
• Remote-monitoring and management tools

Our firewall management guide explains why firewall administrator access, MFA, public management exposure, configuration changes, and temporary vendor access should be reviewed together with the rule set.

A network account that belongs to a former IT provider is still an access-control problem even when no ordinary employee can see it.

10. Save evidence and turn findings into actions

The review should end with decisions, not just a list of accounts.

For each finding, record:

• System or application
• User or identity
• Current access
• Business justification
• Decision: retain, reduce, remove, or investigate
• Approver when needed
• Remediation owner
• Completion status

A practical review sequence is:

1. Collect. Export or document active users, groups, roles, administrators, vendors, and service accounts.
2. Reconcile. Compare access with current people, roles, contracts, and business needs.
3. Prioritize. Start with terminated users, excessive administrators, sensitive systems, and remote access.
4. Approve. Confirm business owners understand material access changes.
5. Remediate. Disable, remove, or reduce unnecessary permissions.
6. Verify. Confirm the change actually took effect.
7. Document. Preserve enough evidence to understand what was reviewed and decided.

How often should a small business review access?

There is no single interval that fits every organization.

NIST’s current implementation examples recommend periodic access reviews and reviews when someone changes roles or leaves the organization.

Use both scheduled and event-driven review.

Useful event triggers include:

• Employee termination
• Role or department change
• New vendor or vendor termination
• Office acquisition or merger
• Major cloud migration
• New IT provider
• Security incident
• Discovery of a shared or stale administrator account

Higher-risk systems and fast-changing organizations may warrant more frequent review than stable systems with tightly controlled access.

Questions to ask during your next access review

• Do all active accounts belong to current authorized people or systems?
• Were recent employee departures fully offboarded?
• Did recent role changes remove old permissions?
• Who has administrator rights and why?
• Which vendors can connect remotely?
• Which accounts still lack MFA?
• Are recovery emails and phone numbers current?
• Which shared accounts exist?
• Which service accounts or API integrations have unclear owners?
• Are emergency-access credentials protected and documented?
• Can the business prove that remediation was completed?

SMART Solutions’ Cybersecurity Protection service includes access-risk reduction and security-first recommendations, while a Network & Security Assessment can review access points, devices, network exposure, and the surrounding technology environment.

If your account list includes former staff, unknown administrators, old vendors, or permissions nobody can explain, contact SMART Solutions to review the environment and build a practical access-remediation plan.

Sources and further reading

• NIST — CSF 2.0 Implementation Examples
• NIST — Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 Reference Tool
• CISA — Require Multifactor Authentication
• FTC — Vendor Security
• FTC — Start with Security, and Stick with It