Many cyber attacks rely on stolen or compromised credentials. These accounts often provide more access than necessary, posing an increased risk for catastrophic user error (like mistyping a command) that could impact multiple systems.
Privileged access management that’s streamlined can prevent these vulnerabilities and improve workflow efficiency. Ensure you’re using a security solution that follows the principle of least privilege by only providing access to the exact resources someone needs to do their job.
User Management
A strong user management feature is important because it enables you to classify privileged accounts as human, application, service, or infrastructure (including cloud). The classifications can help you determine how the account is used, which security controls should apply, and which ones are necessary.
PAM solution features include making it easy to set up policies that automatically grant or deny a specific privilege on an account-by-account basis or by group. For example, you can create a default group for admins that grants them All product admin features and add additional roles that limit their access (e.g., Read only).
This approach reduces the time it takes for IT Admins to manage permissions on a per-user basis and allows for an easier way for users to request the privileges they need. Ultimately, it helps organizations achieve compliance with policies and regulations and improve information security.
A good privileged access management solution can also help you close cybersecurity gaps by allowing you to audit all changes made to accounts and by whom, so you can see who has the potential to open doors deep into your enterprise systems. This can be extremely valuable in identifying insider threats or external cyberattacks.
Access Control
In the wake of high-profile breaches like Uber’s 2016 data theft, it’s clear that privileged accounts are a common vulnerability point. When these accounts are compromised, malicious actors can escalate their access to your organization’s sensitive information and systems. PAM solutions help reduce a company’s attack surface by providing security teams with more granular control and oversight through tactics such as credential management, least privilege enforcement, and account governance.
As you evaluate different PAM options, look for a solution that enables you to identify all the privileged accounts in your environment and bring them under control. Additionally, the tool should provide visibility into all privileged sessions so you can identify suspicious activity, such as unattended or remote logins.
Another crucial feature is setting time windows for when specific privileged accounts can be used. This will help you ensure that these accounts are only used when necessary, such as to manage critical business processes or run periodic checks and audits of your IT infrastructure.
A good PAM solution should balance security with ease of use for IT administrators. You should be able to create accounts, grant and revoke access and handle urgent situations, such as user account lockout, quickly and efficiently. Also, the PAM platform should offer excellent user onboarding and fast time to value, top-notch support, and frequent enhancements and updates.
Auditing
When passwords are compromised, hackers can use them to gain unauthorized access to systems and steal sensitive information. Privileged access management (PAM) solutions provide several features that limit this risk, including password vaulting, where passwords are stored securely and only accessed when needed for specific applications. Another important feature is just-in-time privileged access provisioning, which provides privileged users limited access to specific applications for only the time required to do their jobs. This approach also eliminates the risks of unused accounts (also called zombie accounts) that hackers can use.
Finally, your PAM solution should be able to centrally manage and quickly control access across disparate, heterogeneous systems and create a clear audit trail for every privileged action. This reduces the attack surface and helps ensure compliance with IT security policies and regulations.
In addition, the solution should be scalable to meet your business needs and easily integrate with your existing tools and technologies. For example, it should allow you to monitor privileged account activity and alert administrators when anomalous behavior is detected. This can help detect insider attacks, such as when administrators use their credentials to make unauthorized changes or access forbidden data. It can also prevent these threats by requiring multi-factor authentication for admin logins.
Reporting
Privileged access management is critical to identity and access management (IAM). PAM solutions provide the tools to monitor human and machine activity, enforce least privilege principles, and provide detailed audit trails. The best-privileged access management tools have features that help safeguard against insider threats, like account creation restrictions and role-based permissions that allow only the specific resources required to fulfill an employee’s defined role. They also can sever access rights when users change jobs, are terminated, or leave the organization.
Managing secure access across distributed work environments is a huge challenge. Adding to the complexity are the increasing number of cloud platforms, infrastructure as a service, and software-as-a-service applications that businesses rely on. The right privileged access management framework can enable a more streamlined workflow to improve productivity and mitigate risk.
Think of the tiered privilege access model common in banking, for example. Customers, tellers, and managers have different levels of authority when accessing cash in a bank. This same concept applies to technology systems, where privileged accounts have elevated permissions that allow them to update operating system software or change application configurations that are off-limits for standard users. A good PAM tool balances security with ease of use for IT admins to create and manage accounts, grant or revoke access quickly and handle urgent situations like user account lockout as easily as possible.