How to Protect Your Business with Privileged Access Management (PAM)

In a world where privileged credentials are stolen in 80% of security breaches, implementing a Privileged Access Management (or PAM) solution is one of the most crucial actions firms can take to protect their assets. So, what exactly is privileged access management, and why does your company need it?

What exactly is a privileged access management

In an information technology context, privilege can be defined as the authority that a specific account or process has within a computing system. Those accounts that benefit from privileged access are known as privileged accounts, and grant select users within the organization special privileges to perform critical business functions such as: accessing private corporate data, resetting user passwords, and changing IT infrastructure systems.

Privilege users/privileged accounts pose significantly greater risks than non-privileged accounts/non-privileged users due to their elevated capabilities and access, and if compromised, the company may face serious consequences.

7 reasons why you need privileged access management within your organization

It eliminates the risk of privilege abuse

thus keeping cyberattacks away Privileged accounts can be misused, either from within the organization, as users are given certain privileges and can therefore exploit their access level or from outside, if a hacker gains access to privileged accounts or a former employee is still granted past access.

PAM reduces user access to a bare minimum, and malicious activities are easily detected. Another reason would be that a PAM solution grants privileges everywhere, either on-premises, in the cloud, or a hybrid environment.

PAM allows you to easily track and regulate the numerous systems and apps that require privileged access to function together. User sessions can also be logged for analysis.

Improved visibility

With PAM, you can see who has accessed each network, server, application, and device in real-time.

Integration

Integration across your environment You can easily integrate your processes and tools across the group with privileged access management. You can even use a single dashboard for management if you choose apps that integrate with your systems. Then, using a single tool, you can generate extensive reports.

Reduces malware attacks

More securely and constantly controlling access as well as restricting it when necessary leads to a reduced attack surface within your company.

It increases productivity

PAM allows privileged users to log in faster to the systems they need and eases the burden of having to remember multiple passwords. It also enables admins to easily manage privileged user access from a single central location, rather than a bundle of different systems and applications.

It ensures compliance

Many rules demand specific management of privileged user access as well as the ability to audit access. For privileged accounts, you can limit access to important systems, request additional clearances, or employ multi-factor authentication. PAM system auditing tools record operations and allow you to offer a clear audit trail.

through PAM, businesses can protect, control, and monitor access to critical assets. However, if PAM is not properly managed, it can quickly become a major liability and significantly increase a company's risk.

How to implement a privileged access management strategy

To efficiently execute a privileged access management strategy, adhere to the following PAM recommended practices:

1- Keep an updated list of all privileged accounts.

2- Do not allow administrators to share accounts.

3- Implement a zero-trust security framework.

4- Reduce the number of privileged accounts to a minimum.

5- Create and strictly implement a password policy.

6- Restrict the scope of permissions for each privileged account.

7- Examine the risk associated with each privileged user.

8- Secure cloud-based privileged accounts.

9- Review privileged access rights on a monthly basis.

Best PAM solution

- Keep in mind that a good PAM solution should be:

- offering on-time de-escalation of privileged permissions on threat detection.

- Following the Zero Trust approach, all privileged user sessions are logged and recorded.

- implementing just-in-time access to limit the duration of privileged sessions.

- applying the Principle of Least Privilege.

- having a strong password management policy in place.

- offering real-time visibility.

Privilege access management is an important part of any cybersecurity strategy. Make sure you're using the right PAM tool to stay one step ahead of the cybercriminals!