Robust onboarding and offboarding policies are essential to protecting sensitive data and improving operational efficiency. By implementing JANUS’ eight cybersecurity best practices, you can build an enterprise that is both hardened against threats and resilient in the face of disruption.
Employee onboarding and offboarding are high‑risk moments in the identity lifecycle; most organizations still rely on manual checklists and tribal knowledge. When access is granted too broadly during onboarding or revoked too slowly during offboarding, you increase the chance of data breaches, policy violations, and compliance failures.
This guide outlines eight cybersecurity onboarding and offboarding best practices you can use to build a repeatable, auditable process, aligned with leading frameworks such as NIST SP 800‑53 and modern identity and access management (IAM) controls.
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What is Cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting electronic information from unauthorized access and/or theft. This can include measures to protect data stored on devices. It also includes measures for preventing devices or users from gaining unauthorized access to networks or systems.
There are many cybersecurity threats that all businesses should make note of, to name just a few:
- Viruses
- Malware
- Phishing scams
- Exfiltration of data
To protect your business from these threats, a cybersecurity strategy should be set into place that includes cybersecurity measures for onboarding new employees and offboarding departing ones.
What is Onboarding?
Onboarding is the process of bringing new employees into an organization. This includes orientation, training, and setting up accounts and access to systems. When onboarding new employees, it's important to equip them with the right skills and understanding to keep your IT network safe.
Cybersecurity Onboarding Best Practices
To create a cyber security-conscious staff, you need to start from the very beginning. That means going back to the hiring and onboarding processes. Here are some things you can do to make your employees better equipped to help keep your network safe:
1. Treat onboarding and offboarding as part of identity lifecycle management
Onboarding and offboarding should plug into a formal identity lifecycle management process, not stand‑alone IT tasks. Map how employees, contractors, and vendors move through your environment (joiners, movers, leavers) and define who is responsible at each step.
A clearly defined IT security culture is essential to deterring internal cyber threats. You need to make sure that your potential in-house and remote workers are aware of your cybersecurity policies before they even start working for you.
One of these policies involves the use of passwords. Require that your employees use specific combinations of characters, numbers, and symbols in their passwords. You should also set a minimum password length to make sure that they are not using easily guessed words or phrases and enforce a password change policy every 60 days that prevent the reuse of prior passwords.
Another policy to implement is the assurance that employees do regular software updates. You should also have a policy on prompt reporting of any suspicious activity. If one of your employees sees something unusual, they should report it to their supervisor immediately.
NIST SP 800‑53 controls such as AC‑2 (Account Management) and IA‑4 (Identifier Management) emphasize timely provisioning, updates, and deprovisioning of accounts, which should be reflected in your HR, IT, and security workflows.
2. Standardize access provisioning based on least privilege
During onboarding, create user accounts and grant access strictly based on job role and least‑privilege principles. Use standardized role‑based access control (RBAC) or attribute‑based access control (ABAC) models so new hires receive only the permissions they need, nothing more.
Document approved applications, SaaS tools, code repositories, and cloud resources for each role, and ensure new accounts are created consistently using your IAM or directory platform to avoid shadow access.
3. Make security awareness training part of day‑one onboarding
Keeping your staff cyber aware is another important step in deterring internal cyber threats. Your employees need to understand that cyber-attacks are not only common, but they are also increasing in frequency and severity. Ensure your employees understand what forms of attacks are especially prevalent. Phishing emails, social engineering, and ransomware are just some examples they need to stay on the lookout for.
New employees should receive foundational cybersecurity training during orientation, not months later. Cover topics such as phishing, social engineering, strong password hygiene, secure use of collaboration tools, and data‑handling expectations tied to your policies and regulatory environment.
Reinforce this with periodic micro‑learning, simulated phishing exercises, and role‑specific modules for users handling sensitive data like PHI or financial information. When your staff understands these consequences, they will hopefully stay more vigilant.
4. Enforce strong authentication and secure password policies
From onboarding onward, require multi‑factor authentication (MFA) for remote access, cloud services, privileged accounts, and any system containing sensitive or regulated data. Enroll new employees in MFA as part of their first‑day setup, and ensure backup factors are configured securely.
Pair MFA with modern password policies (unique credentials, adequate length, and discouraging reuse across systems) supported by password managers rather than forcing overly frequent changes that encourage unsafe workarounds.
What Is Offboarding?
Offboarding refers to all the actions associated with an employee leaving your organization. This includes returning everything that is considered organization property. When an employee leaves your organization, they take all their knowledge and experience with them. This can leave your organization vulnerable to attack if they are not properly offboarded.
Cybersecurity Offboarding Best Practices
You can only experience the benefits of offboarding procedures if you go about the process correctly. Here are some things you can do to secure your operations and infrastructure when an employee departs:
5. Use automated workflows and checklists for secure offboarding
When an employee or contractor leaves, there should be no delay between HR status changes and revoking access. Automate offboarding workflows where possible so changes in your HR or identity system trigger actions like disabling accounts, revoking tokens, and removing group memberships across cloud and on‑premises systems.
Maintain a standardized offboarding checklist that includes VPN, SaaS, code repositories, cloud consoles, physical access badges, and any shared credentials the user knows, and require completion before the offboarding ticket can close.
6. Immediately revoke and audit access across all systems
All login and physical access should be disabled as soon as employment ends. Especially in cases of involuntary termination. NIST SP 800‑53 highlights the need for prompt deactivation of identifiers and account privileges as part of effective access enforcement.
Go beyond disabling primary user accounts by revoking API tokens, SSH keys, admin roles, and access to CI/CD pipelines, code repositories, and third‑party integrations, then log these actions for compliance and forensic readiness.
7. Retrieve and sanitize company devices and data
There are 2 types of employee departures: resignation and termination. In either case, the offboarding process is similar. It should be carried out with the aid of a comprehensive checklist to protect against missing any steps.
As part of offboarding, collect all laptops, mobile devices, security badges, keys, storage media, and other company‑owned assets from departing staff. Keep an inventory of issued assets and reconcile it during exit to ensure everything is returned or explained.
Once recovered, follow your secure wipe and re‑image procedures to remove residual data, and transfer necessary files, email, and documentation to managers or successors to maintain continuity without keeping unnecessary active accounts.
Clear policies and procedures will help protect the organization when employees leave.
8. Conduct exit interviews with a security lens
Exit interviews are an opportunity not only to discuss HR topics but also to reinforce cybersecurity obligations. Remind departing employees of confidentiality, non‑disclosure, and acceptable‑use requirements, and confirm that they no longer retain company data on personal accounts or devices.
Use the exit conversation to solicit feedback on onboarding, security processes, and any friction that may have pushed users towards workarounds, then feed insights into continuous improvement of your onboarding and offboarding program.
Bringing it together: building a secure employee lifecycle
Effective cybersecurity onboarding and offboarding is less about individual tasks and more about building a repeatable, auditable employee lifecycle aligned with frameworks like NIST SP 800‑53 and your regulatory obligations. Organizations that standardize access provisioning, embed security training into onboarding, enforce MFA, and automate offboarding reduce insider risk, strengthen compliance, and simplify their security audits.
If you lack the internal resources to design or validate your onboarding and offboarding program, partnering with an experienced, vendor‑neutral cybersecurity consulting firm can help you align processes with best practices and frameworks while keeping them practical for your environment.
Need to evaluate your employee onboarding and offboarding process? JANUS can assess your current identity and access management controls, map them to NIST and industry expectations, and deliver a prioritized roadmap to reduce insider risk and strengthen compliance. Learn more here: JANUS Associates vCISO Services.pdf
