Thinking about the meaning of “modern organization”, we imagine a company that copes with dynamic market changes, adapts quickly, and introduces the latest solutions to facilitate and secure the work environment.
Such a sudden and unexpected change was the pandemic that forced the popularization of the remote work model. Inflexible and unprepared companies recorded large losses, while businesses that quickly adapted to the new model of distributed work gained an advantage.
At the same time, a new challenge appeared. How to secure access to critical resources? With sensitive information being stored online and in the cloud, the risks of unauthorized access and theft have become increasingly frequent. This is where privileged access management (PAM) comes in, which has become a critical aspect of modern organizational security.
What is Privileged Access Management?
The goal of PAM is to limit access to privileged accounts, ensuring that only authorized personnel can use them. These accounts are high-value targets for cybercriminals, and once compromised, they can cause significant damage to an organization’s reputation, finances, and operations. PAM solutions can provide visibility into the use of privileged accounts, enforce policy-based access controls, and record all privileged account activity. In the next part of the article, you will learn several reasons why privileged access management is essential for an organization’s security.
Enhanced Security
PAM solutions can help protect sensitive data by limiting access to privileged accounts and enforcing strict controls. By implementing PAM, organizations can enforce access controls, monitor privileged account activity, and prevent malicious insiders and external attackers from gaining access to high-value targets.
Mitigation of Insider Threats
Insider threats were among the most expensive types of breaches in 2022. Malicious insider is usually a current or former employee or business associate with privileged access to a company’s sensitive data or critical infrastructure. This is the most difficult opponent to handle because he has authorized access and intentionally misuses his privileges to steal information.
PAM solutions can help organizations detect and prevent insider threats by monitoring and controlling privileged account activity, detecting unusual behaviors, and alerting security teams in real-time.
Third-Party Access Management
Third-party vendors and contractors often require access to an organization’s systems and data. However, providing access to these third parties can increase the risks of cyberattacks and data breaches. PAM solutions can help organizations manage third-party access by enforcing strict controls, monitoring activity, and revoking access when necessary.
Compliance
PAM solutions help organizations to meet compliance requirements of PCI-DSS, SOX, HIPAA, NIST, GDPR, or ISA/IEC 62443 regulations by providing tools to monitor and control privileged access, generate compliance reports, and maintain audit trails.
Collecting Evidence
The phrase search feature enables the user to filter out specific keywords from data entered during suspicious sessions. When a data breach occurs, the company will be able to search for any traces or evidence of a crime.
After reading this article, you should have a better understanding of PAM’s most important features and its significant impact on remote access security. By providing tools to protect sensitive data, detect and prevent insider threats, manage third-party access, meet compliance requirements, and gather evidence in case of a data breach, PAM is now a critical solution for modern organizations. In today’s world, where data breaches and cyberattacks have become increasingly common, it is an essential cybersecurity practice that should be a top priority for all businesses that value their security.
