Privileged Access Management (PAM) - Protect Your Crown Jewels

Privileged Access Management (PAM) is a critical security control that secures, controls, and monitors access to privileged accounts including administrator accounts, service accounts, root accounts, domain admin accounts, and other high-value credentials. PAM solutions provide password vaulting (secure credential storage), session management (privileged session monitoring and recording), access workflows (approval-based access requests), just-in-time (JIT) access (temporary privilege elevation), and least privilege enforcement (reducing standing privileges). By protecting privileged accounts, PAM prevents insider threats, reduces the attack surface, limits lateral movement during breaches, ensures audit compliance, and provides forensic evidence for security investigations. Organizations deploy PAM to secure access to critical systems including servers, databases, network devices, cloud infrastructure, DevOps tools, and industrial control systems. PAM is required by compliance frameworks including PCI DSS (Requirement 8), NIST 800-53, SOC 2, HIPAA, NERC CIP, and cyber insurance policies. Leading PAM vendors including CyberArk, BeyondTrust, Delinea (formerly Thycotic), HashiCorp Vault, and AWS Secrets Manager provide enterprise-grade solutions supporting on-premise, cloud, hybrid, and DevOps environments with integration to SIEM, ITSM, and identity platforms.

Privileged Account Discovery & Inventory

  • Account discovery automated scanning for privileged accounts
  • Credential inventory database of all privileged credentials
  • Service account detection finding application and system service accounts
  • SSH key management discovering and managing SSH private keys
  • Cloud credentials AWS access keys, Azure service principals, GCP service accounts
  • Local admin accounts Windows, Linux, Mac admin accounts
  • Domain admin accounts Active Directory privileged groups
  • Application credentials database passwords and API keys

Password Vaulting & Secrets Management

  • Secure vault encrypted storage for privileged credentials
  • Password rotation automated credential rotation policies
  • Check-in / check-out credential access control and tracking
  • Dual control requiring multiple approvals for sensitive access
  • Emergency access break-glass procedures for emergencies
  • Secrets management API keys, certificates, tokens, database credentials
  • Password generation strong random password creation
  • Credential injection automatic credential insertion without user visibility

Privileged Session Management

  • Session proxy proxying RDP, SSH, HTTPS, SQL, VNC sessions
  • Session recording video recording of privileged sessions
  • Keystroke logging capturing all keystrokes and commands
  • Session monitoring real-time session observation
  • Session termination killing sessions on policy violations
  • Time limits restricting session duration
  • Command filtering blocking dangerous commands (rm -rf, DROP TABLE)
  • Searchable audit logs indexed recordings for forensics

Access Control & Workflows

  • Just-in-Time (JIT) access temporary privilege elevation
  • Approval workflows requiring manager or security approval
  • Request and reason requiring justification for access
  • Time-bound access automatic access expiration
  • Least privilege removing unnecessary privileged access
  • Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) granting access based on roles
  • Separation of duties preventing single person from performing critical actions
  • Emergency access expedited access with audit trail

Endpoint Privilege Management

  • Application control whitelisting privileged applications
  • Privilege elevation allowing standard users temporary admin rights
  • Least privilege enforcement removing local admin rights
  • Sandboxing isolating privileged applications
  • Policy-based elevation automated approval based on policies
  • User behavior analytics detecting anomalous privilege usage
  • Credential theft protection protecting LSASS, preventing credential dumping
  • Windows privilege control UAC replacement and enhancement

Integration & DevOps

  • SIEM integration sending logs to Splunk, QRadar, Sentinel
  • ITSM integration ServiceNow, Jira ticketing workflows
  • Identity integration SSO with Okta, Azure AD, Active Directory
  • Cloud PAM AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault, GCP Secret Manager
  • DevOps secrets HashiCorp Vault, CI/CD integration
  • Container secrets Kubernetes secrets, Docker secrets
  • API secrets management programmatic credential retrieval
  • Database PAM securing DBA access to production databases

Secure Privileged Access with PAM

Protect high-value accounts and prevent credential theft with enterprise Privileged Access Management. Implement password vaulting, session monitoring, and least privilege access controls.

Request PAM Implementation