Audit Flagged: Digital Broadcaster’s Role-Based Access Controls Break Down
The Challenge
In early 2025, a national digital broadcaster underwent a scheduled audit of its information systems and access management practices. What began as a routine review quickly revealed major weaknesses. The audit found that several privileged accounts belonging to former staff remained active months after their departure. Department heads were unaware that these accounts still had access to editorial archives, internal analytics, and live content management systems. The findings showed that access permissions had not been formally reviewed in over a year.
The lapse occurred because the company’s user management relied heavily on manual approvals and emails between departments. Human resources and IT systems were not synchronized, meaning that when employees left or changed roles, access privileges often remained unchanged. The audit also found that contractors and freelancers retained permissions long after their assignments had ended. This over-permissioning created significant insider risk and exposed the company to potential data leaks.
Regulators noted that such deficiencies violated compliance expectations under Canadian privacy and broadcasting standards. Internal stakeholders feared reputational damage if the issue became public. The broadcaster’s leadership needed a rapid, comprehensive fix that restored compliance and rebuilt confidence across teams.
Our Solution
Our firm was brought in to design and implement a modernized access governance program. The first step was to revoke all outdated accounts and enforce the principle of least privilege. We deployed a centralized identity and access management platform that automatically synchronized with human resources systems to disable access as soon as an employee or contractor left the organization.
We introduced quarterly access certification reviews and created dashboards to give system owners visibility into privilege assignments. Automated alerts were configured to flag anomalies, such as unused elevated accounts or repeated login attempts from unexpected locations. To ensure accountability, department leads were assigned formal responsibility for access oversight, supported by internal audit and compliance teams.
Finally, we developed policies to require role-based access models for all business-critical applications and implemented mandatory annual training on access governance. These measures not only reduced insider threat risks but also prepared the company for upcoming digital compliance audits.
The Value
The broadcaster successfully avoided compliance penalties by addressing the audit findings before the regulator’s follow-up inspection. By instituting automated access controls and continuous monitoring, the company significantly reduced insider risk and improved transparency across departments. Staff confidence in IT governance rose, and external auditors confirmed full remediation. The organization also saved an estimated one hundred and twenty thousand dollars in potential fines and manual remediation costs.
Implementation Roadmap
1. Revoke outdated access credentials and enforce least privilege policies.
2. Integrate access management systems with HR databases for automated deprovisioning.
3. Conduct quarterly access reviews for all privileged accounts.
4. Enable real-time monitoring dashboards for system owners.
5. Train department leads and staff on access governance responsibilities.
