What is Privileged Access Management (PAM)?
Privileged Access Management, a definition
Privileged Access Management (PAM) is a cybersecurity solution that focus the control of identities. It addresses the management of high-level access rights within an organization’s digital network. It focuses on recording the sessions and controlling privileged accounts for a better monitoring. The framework is built upon the fundamental principle of least privilege access whereby users and processes are granted only the minimum access rights necessary for their role. The main goal of that principle is to be able to reduce the rights of an admin user so that it can only be used when required. This approach aims to reduce the potential impact of a compromised account. Privileged Access Management solutions often provide reporting and analytics capabilities, offering insights into privileged access usage and potential anomalies
What are Privileged Accounts ?
A privileged account is a user, service, or system account with elevated permissions that grant expanded access and control within an organization’s IT infrastructure. Unlike standard user accounts, privileged accounts can perform significant changes to network resources such as modifying configurations, accessing sensitive data or managing other user accounts. These accounts are typically held by system administrators, IT managers, and specialized service processes.
Privileged accounts are prime target and particularly sensitive for cybercriminals and insider threats, that why they have to be secure.
Types of privileged accounts
- Domain administrator accounts: Highest-level control across an entire domain.
- Local administrator accounts: Admin access to specific servers or workstations.
- Application administrator accounts: Full access to specific applications and their data.
- Service accounts: Used by applications to interact with the operating system.
- Business privileged user accounts: High-level privileges based on job responsibilities.
- Emergency/Break glass/Firecall accounts: Temporary admin access for unprivileged users during crises.
- Active Directory/domain service accounts: Manage domain-level tasks like password changes.
- Application accounts: Used for database access, batch jobs, scripts, and inter-application communication.
Difference between Privileged Access Management and Privileged Account Management
The nomenclature for this category of software is still in flux. Privileged Access Management can also be referred to as “Privileged Account Management” or “Privileged Session Management”.
For this reason, the acronym PAM is sometimes also known as PSM or PxM.
We could say that Privileged Account Management is a subset of Privileged Access Management that specifically deals with the lifecycle management of accounts.
Privileged Access Management is more a framework that includes Privileged Account Management as one of its key components, along with other elements such as session monitoring, access control, and audit logging.
Why use PAM ?
Securing your organization’s digital access comes with side benefits. But in addition to the advantages listed below, the special feature of PAM is that it can easily scaling to the organization’s growth. And that growth include all users and not just your employes.
The bigger and more complex your organization’s IT systems get, the more privileged users you have. These include employees, contractors, remote or even automated users. Remember that many organizations have 2-3 times as many privileged users as employees!
Compliance
prove your compliance simply and efficiently
Many industry standards and regulations, such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and SOX, mandate strict control over access to sensitive data and systems. PAM solutions help organizations achieve and maintain compliance by providing detailed audit trails, enforcing least privilege principles, and implementing strong access controls. By using Privileged Access Management software, companies can demonstrate during a audit that they have measures in place to protect sensitive information, thereby avoiding potential fines and penalties.
Control and monitoring
proactive threat detection and instant control on a compromised account
PAM empowers organizations with control and monitoring over accounts, offering IT teams the ability to track and record all activities performed with privileged credentials. This provides visibility and helps to detect unusual or suspicious behavior that could signal a potential security breach or insider threat. With features such as real-time session monitoring and auditing for forensic analysis, PAM solutions enhance proactive threat detection by raising alarms when malicious activity is detected and can terminate sessions to prevent further harm. By implementing these advanced control and monitoring measures, organizations can effectively mitigate the risk of unauthorized access and safeguard their IT environment against malicious activities.
Gain efficiency when sharing access
provide limited access for a specified period
Instead of sharing passwords directly, PAM solutions allow administrators to grant temporary, controlled access to privileged accounts. This approach eliminates the need for password sharing, reduces the risk of leaks and simplifies access revocation. Many PAM tools offer features like just-in-time access to critical systems, where elevated permissions are granted only for a specific duration and purpose. This not only enhances security but also improves workflow efficiency, especially in scenarios involving third-party vendors.
How does Privileged Access Management Works ?
Components of a PAM Solution
Access Manager
This Privileged Access Management module is the gateway of all privileged accounts. This is a single point for defining and applying privileged access management policies. A privileged user requests access to a system via the access manager, which is configured to know which systems the user can access and at what privilege level. A super admin can monitor the Acces Manager module and add/modify/delete an accounts and all in real time.
Password Vault
The Password Vault securely stores and manages privileged account credentials. It prevents users from directly handling sensitive passwords. Instead, the PAM system keeps these passwords in a secure vault and opens access to a system for the privileged user once he has cleared the Access Manager.
Session Manager
The Session Manager monitors and records activities during the sessions. It provides an audit trail of all actions taken by privileged users, allowing for detailed review and analysis. Session managers are the cornerstone of security monitoring, incident response and compliance reporting.
Universal Tunneling
Universal Tunneling encapsulates industrial protocols (like Modbus, Profinet, Bacnet, and EtherCAT) within a secure SSH tunnel, ensuring safe communication across your OT infrastructure. By integrating Universal Tunneling into your PAM solution, you extend the same level of security and oversight to the OT environment, effectively protecting critical industrial processes from unauthorized access and potential cyber threats.
Core Functionalities
Identification and Discovery: PAM solutions identify and catalog privileged accounts across the organization’s IT infrastructure.
Access Control: Implement and enforce least privilege principles, ensuring users have only the access they need.
Password Management: Automate password rotation, enforce strong password policies, and manage password checkout processes.
Multi-factor Authentication: Require additional verification for privileged access to enhance security.
Session Monitoring and Recording: Track and log all activities during privileged sessions for audit and security purposes.
Just-in-Time (JIT) Access: Grant temporary, elevated access only when needed and for a limited duration.
Reporting and Analytics: Generate detailed reports on privileged access activities and potential security anomalies.
Integration: Connect with existing security and IT management tools for a cohesive security ecosystem.
PAM Best Practices
Starting Your PAM Journey: A Strategic Approach
Implementing a Privileged Access Management solution requires a methodical, phased approach that allows organizations to build a roadmap in the security foundation while maintaining operational efficiency. The journey begins with fundamental components and gradually expands to encompass more sophisticated security measures.
Phase 1: Establishing Core Foundations
Organizations should first focus on implementing Privileged Account and Session Management (PASM). This initial phase involves deploying a centralized password vault to secure and manage credentials, coupled with comprehensive session monitoring capabilities. The vault serves as a secure repository for all privileged credentials, while session management ensures complete visibility and control over privileged access activities. These foundational elements create the backbone of your PAM infrastructure.
Phase 2: Strengthening Access Controls
Once the basic infrastructure is in place, organizations can advance to Privilege Elevation and Delegation Management (PEDM). This phase focuses on implementing granular access controls based on the principle of least privilege. By managing workstation policies through a centralized console and implementing strict folder access rules, organizations can significantly reduce their attack surface. This approach ensures that users have exactly the access they need—nothing more, nothing less—while protecting critical data from unauthorized modifications.
Phase 3: Securing Remote Operations
In today’s distributed work environment, securing remote access is crucial. This phase involves implementing robust Secure Remote Access (SRA) solutions and addressing vendor privileged access management (VPAM). Organizations must ensure that remote connections, whether from employees or third-party vendors, maintain the same level of security as local access. This includes securing cloud access points and implementing strict authentication protocols for remote sessions.
Phase 4: Scaling for Growth
As organizations expand their digital footprint, particularly in cloud environments, implementing Cloud Infrastructure Entitlements Management (CIEM) becomes essential. This involves right-sizing cloud entitlements across multiple platforms and automating the remediation of excess privileged access. Organizations should focus on automating PAM processes, including the discovery of privileged accounts and assets, to ensure scalability and consistency in access management.
Phase 5: Continuous Evolution
The final phase focuses on the continuous evolution of your PAM strategy. This involves integrating PAM with identity threat detection and response (ITDR) systems, regularly assessing and improving PAM maturity, and scaling solutions across the enterprise. Organizations should establish regular review cycles to evaluate their PAM implementation against emerging threats and changing business requirements.
Privileged Access Management (PAM) VS Identity Management
Privileged Access Management or PAM is sometimes confused with the broader category of Identity Management. There is some overlap, but the two subjects are separate and quite different. PAM is focused on privileged user access. Identity management concerns authenticating and authorizing any user who needs access to a system. A bank teller who logs into a banking application is authenticated by an IdM solution such as Microsoft Active Directory. Active Directory, which is based on the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) standard, is not well suited to PAM. It’s a great product. It’s just not meant to control privileged users. Not all devices with privileged user accounts integrate easily with Active Directory, for example.
IdM solutions are also often designed with openness in mind. PAM tends to be closed, on purpose. For instance, the OAuth standard enables an enterprise application to authorize access to a mobile app belonging to a third party. (E.g. a bank system uses OAuth to permit a mobile user to see the balance on a stock trading account managed by a different entity.) Or, IdM solutions leverage “security assertions” like SAML to “vouch” for a system user as he or she requests access to data belonging to third parties. PAM does not use security assertions or third party authorization standards. They are neither needed nor wanted in PAM.
