Under the NYDFS Cybersecurity Regulation, this kind of uncontrolled SSH access is a violation waiting to happen. Section 500.7 demands strict access controls. Section 500.14 requires monitoring and threat response. But raw SSH into production servers is hard to track, easy to misuse, and nearly impossible to audit at scale without friction.
An SSH access proxy solves this. It sits between users and target machines. Every session runs through the proxy. Keys are centrally stored. All commands are logged. Access is granted only through policy, often tied to multi-factor authentication and role-based rules. For NYDFS compliance, this means verifiable enforcement of least privilege, real-time termination of suspicious sessions, and detailed forensic evidence when needed.
A strong SSH proxy implementation also handles key rotation automatically. No unmanaged keys live on laptops. No stale accounts linger after offboarding. With the right architecture, every SSH request flows through a secure gateway that enforces NYDFS Cybersecurity Regulation controls without relying on manual checks.