An ACL export shows permissions that are assigned; it does not establish whether those permissions are still needed. A useful file-share access review puts an accountable asset owner in charge of judging business need, role fit and approval—and makes sure inappropriate access is corrected.
Who should review access to a file share?
The asset owner should make the access decision, with administrators or security staff supplying evidence and carrying out approved changes. CISA’s Cyber Resilience Review: Question Set with Guidance says, “Periodic review (as defined by the organization) of access privileges is the primary responsibility of the asset owners.” CISA guidance
That responsibility matters because a permission list cannot tell you whether a person’s current work requires access, whether an assigned privilege fits that role, or whether the owner approved it. CISA’s review criteria focus on privileges that exceed the asset’s needs, do not match an identity’s role, or were assigned without owner approval.
Is exporting the ACL enough?
No. An export is evidence for a review, not the review itself. It can help reveal assigned permissions, but it does not decide whether they are justified or ensure they are removed when they are not. CISA warns that insufficiently restricted access control lists on network shares and services are a security misconfiguration, and notes that data shares and repositories are primary targets for malicious actors. CISA’s cybersecurity advisory
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| Review dimension | ACL export alone | Owner-led review |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence and decision | Lists assigned permissions. | Determines whether access is necessary, fits the identity’s role and has owner approval. |
| Coverage | Shows entries in the exported view; it does not by itself establish that relevant identities, groups, files and directories have all been considered. | Considers the asset’s privileges and the access needed to its files and directories. |
| Risk focus | May display powerful permissions without explaining whether they are appropriate. | Applies least privilege and scrutinizes Write, Modify and Full Control. |
| Action and closure | Does not itself change access or confirm that a finding was resolved. | Routes approved changes, corrects inappropriate privileges and verifies the change took effect. |
This comparison describes the difference between evidence and a decision process; it is not a formal CISA scoring framework.
How do I review NTFS and share permissions?
Review the effective access to the share, not just a single permissions listing. The exact evidence to gather depends on the environment; CISA’s cited material calls for review of assigned privileges and role alignment but does not prescribe a particular export format. As a practical starting point, assemble the relevant share and file-system permissions, group membership, inherited permissions and identity context, then have the owner decide what is warranted.
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- Define the asset. Identify the share, its business purpose, sensitivity and accountable owner.
- Gather access evidence. Collect applicable share and file-system permissions, relevant group membership, inherited permissions and identity or role context. Include the files and directories that matter to the asset’s purpose.
- Make the decision. For each identity or role/group, ask whether access is needed for the asset’s requirements, matches current job responsibilities and was approved by the owner.
- Focus on high-impact rights. Examine Write, Modify and Full Control closely. CISA recommends restrictive file and directory permissions and says to restrict these permissions on centralized file shares when possible. CISA’s network-share guidance and its continuity-of-operations guidance support least privilege.
- Record the decision. Keep an operational record of who reviewed the access, what was approved or rejected, the rationale and who owns any resulting change. This makes the decision and its follow-through traceable.
- Remediate and verify. Remove, reduce or disable inappropriate privileges and disable invalid accounts where applicable. Confirm that approved access changes took effect.
- Repeat on a defined cadence. Set a risk-based schedule and triggers for another review, and explain the organization’s chosen approach.
What permissions should I remove or reduce?
Do not remove access just because it appears in an export. The owner should identify privileges that are no longer necessary for the asset, do not fit the identity’s current role or lack owner approval. Where access is legitimate but broader than needed, reduce it to the minimum required rather than preserving an unnecessarily powerful grant.
- Write: Restrict it where users only need to read or retrieve files.
- Modify: Check whether the identity genuinely needs to change or delete the content, not merely view it.
- Full Control: Reserve it for cases where the broader administrative capability is required and approved.
- Invalid or unnecessary identities: Remove or disable access when an account is no longer valid or the business need has ended.
CISA says excessive or inappropriate privileges should be corrected in a timely manner to avoid exposing the organization to additional risk. CISA’s Cyber Resilience Review guidance
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How often should file-share permissions be reviewed?
CISA does not establish one calendar interval for every organization. Its Cyber Resilience Review calls for periodic access-privilege reviews on a schedule defined by the organization, while its continuity-of-operations guidance calls for continuous review of centralized file-share ACLs. Cyber Resilience Review guidance; continuity-of-operations guidance
Organizations should document a cadence suited to the share’s sensitivity and their own requirements, and define events that prompt an earlier review. The cited guidance supports periodic review and continuous attention to centralized-share ACLs, but it does not specify a universal number of days or months.
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Are SharePoint and OneDrive links part of the same review?
They are a related access surface, but cloud sharing links are not interchangeable with Windows share or NTFS ACLs. CISA’s SharePoint and OneDrive baseline recommends specific-people defaults and View as the default file or folder permission. It discourages Anyone links and verification-code sharing because they provide weak or no authentication. CISA SharePoint and OneDrive Secure Configuration Baseline
Review cloud sharing controls under the applicable platform baseline alongside—not in place of—the file-share permissions review.
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