What is Privileged Account Management (PAM)?

Privileged accounts are those that have elevated levels of access, such as administrator accounts, root accounts, or service accounts, which grant the user or system access to critical infrastructure, sensitive data, and configuration settings.

PAM is critical for organisations because these accounts have the ability to perform high-risk actions that, if compromised, could lead to significant damage, data breaches, or misuse of systems.

Key Components of PAM:

1. Credential Management:

   • Password Vaulting: PAM solutions store privileged credentials (e.g., passwords, SSH keys) in a secure vault, ensuring that these sensitive credentials are not stored in plaintext. The credentials are often rotated regularly to reduce the risk of misuse.
   • Access Control: PAM systems enforce policies for how and when privileged accounts can be accessed, ensuring that only authorized personnel or systems can use these accounts.

2. Least Privilege Access:

   • Limiting Privilege: PAM solutions help enforce the principle of least privilege, ensuring users and systems only have the minimum required access to perform their duties, rather than full administrative access across all systems.
   • Temporary Privileges: Some PAM systems provide just-in-time (JIT) access, allowing users to elevate their privileges for a limited time when needed, and automatically revoke those privileges once the task is complete.

3. Session Monitoring and Recording:

   • Monitoring and Logging: PAM solutions typically monitor and log the actions taken during privileged sessions, including commands run, files accessed, and configurations modified. This allows for auditability and traceability, which is critical for compliance and identifying any unauthorized or malicious activity.
   • Session Replay: In some cases, privileged sessions can be recorded and later replayed for forensic analysis or compliance reviews. This ensures transparency and accountability for actions taken with elevated access.

4. Access Control and Approval Workflows:

   • Approval Workflow: Many PAM solutions incorporate workflows where access to privileged accounts must be requested and approved by authorised personnel before it is granted. This adds an additional layer of oversight and accountability.
   • Time-bound Access: Some systems provide time-based access controls, meaning privileged accounts can only be used during certain hours or for specific time durations.

5. Audit and Compliance:

   • Compliance Reporting: PAM helps organizations meet compliance requirements such as SOX, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, and others by ensuring that privileged account usage is monitored, recorded, and reported according to regulatory guidelines.
   • Automated Alerts: PAM solutions can trigger alerts for suspicious activities, such as accessing sensitive systems at unusual times or performing high-risk actions, allowing administrators to respond quickly to potential security threats.

6. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA):

   • MFA for Privileged Accounts: To further protect privileged accounts, many PAM solutions require multi-factor authentication (MFA), ensuring that access to high-risk systems or data cannot be easily compromised by a stolen password alone.

Benefits of PAM:

• Enhanced Security: PAM minimizes the risk of credential theft, unauthorised access, and misuse of privileged accounts, which are often targeted by cyber criminals.
• Auditability: Provides organisations with detailed audit logs of privileged account activity, enabling better visibility into user actions and improving the ability to detect and respond to incidents.
• Compliance: Helps organisations meet industry regulations by ensuring privileged access is appropriately controlled and monitored, making it easier to pass compliance audits.
• Reduced Insider Threats: By controlling and monitoring privileged access, PAM helps mitigate the risks posed by insiders, whether malicious or negligent.
• Operational Efficiency: With automated credential rotation, approval workflows, and access management, PAM reduces the administrative burden of manually managing privileged accounts and access permissions.

PAM Best Practices:

• Regularly Rotate Privileged Credentials: Regularly change passwords and other credentials to prevent unauthorized access.
• Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Use MFA to add an additional layer of security for privileged accounts.
• Use Just-in-Time (JIT) Privileges: Grant privileged access only when necessary and for the minimum duration required, reducing the risk of lingering access.
• Monitor Privileged Sessions: Continuously monitor and record all actions performed during privileged sessions to detect suspicious activities.
• Segment Privileged Access: Create segmented access control policies to minimize the scope of privileged access, ensuring that users only have access to the systems or applications they need.
• Ensure Strong Approval Workflows: Establish robust approval workflows for granting privileged access, ensuring that access is granted only for valid business needs and with proper oversight.

Conclusion:

Privileged Account Management (PAM) is an essential part of a comprehensive cyber security strategy. It ensures that the most powerful accounts in an organisation's IT environment are properly secured, monitored, and managed to reduce the risk of security breaches and maintain compliance with industry regulations.