User Account Sharing

A subject deliberately shares credentials for an individually assigned user account with another person, or uses credentials assigned to another individual without authorization. Individually assigned accounts are intended to be used only by the assigned account holder and are governed by organizational policy, access control requirements, and identity management processes. Sharing or using another person’s account violates these controls by moving access outside approved provisioning, delegation, and review mechanisms.

User account sharing typically emerges where convenience, workload pressure, informal delegation, or perceived access delays are prioritized over account-use policy. Teams may rationalize the behavior as necessary for shift coverage, urgent operational tasks, peer assistance, or temporary access needs. In other cases, a subject may share or receive account credentials to avoid onboarding delays, bypass access request processes, or complete work without obtaining the permissions formally required for their role.

When user account credentials are shared, the receiving individual gains access through an identity that was not assigned, approved, or reviewed for their use. This can bypass role-based access controls, segregation of duties, conditional access policies, approval workflows, and access review assumptions. The infringement is not dependent on malicious intent; the policy violation arises from the unauthorized transfer or use of identity-bound access.

User account sharing may expose sensitive systems, regulated data, approval functions, administrative consoles, or business workflows to individuals who have not been formally authorized for that level of access. In environments with compliance obligations, privileged workflows, or strict access governance requirements, user account sharing should be treated as a significant infringement and reviewed against the organization’s Acceptable Use Policy, identity governance standards, and disciplinary or remediation processes.