What is a significant risk associated with shared accounts?

Shared accounts pose significant accountability issues because they are accessed by multiple users without a clear way to track individual actions or changes made by each person. This lack of individual accountability makes it challenging to determine who is responsible for any specific actions, whether they are positive or negative.

In scenarios involving security incidents, it becomes problematic to pinpoint the user responsible for changes or breaches, leading to difficulties in troubleshooting and investigating security events. Additionally, shared accounts can encourage complacency among users, as individuals may feel less inclined to be personally responsible for their actions when they believe they are part of a collective group using the same credentials.

In contrast, shared accounts do not simplify auditing processes, as tracking activity is made more complex without unique identifiers for each user. They may not necessarily be easier to manage; in fact, managing permissions and the rotation of access credentials can become cumbersome. Security monitoring is typically less effective with shared accounts, as the absence of individual user logs can impede real-time threat detection and response.