ScriptLogic’s Privilege Authority

I recently discovered a free offering from ScriptLogic that allows system administrators to grant standard users administrative rights for specified processes, in much the same way as commercial products. ScriptLogic doesn’t support Privilege Authority, although there is a community support forum which is active at http://privilegeauthority.com, so it may not be suitable for use in large organizations that would depend on the software as part of their mission critical infrastructure.

Privilege Authority has its own server console for administering Group Policy settings, and before use, you have to provide an email address. When configuring new settings to deploy to clients, there is a list of standard rules for common applications, and rules can also be imported from the Rules Exchange on the community forum. User defined rules, can of course, also be created and exported.

While not as fully featured or elegant as products from the main players, Avecto and BeyondTrust, Privilege Authority provides a potential alternative for smaller organizations that cannot get funding to deploy a commercial solution.