How does PAM work?

What is Privileged Access Management?

Privileged Access Management (PAM) is a critical part of any security solution, which is aimed directly at controlling and supervising the access to the systems and the data by the users with the privileged level of authority. Through proper management of the privileged accounts will go a long way in reducing the likelihood of one abusing the accounts and thus compromise the organization’s systems.

Key components of PAM include:

1. Account Management:  PAM systems allow for the control of the granting, change or removal of privileged accounts and ensuring that only authorized users have access to sensitive resources.
2. Access Control: PAM also helps to reduce the risk of having unauthorized people accessing privileged accounts and/or during certain periods of time. This often includes implementing the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) which basically means that a user should only have the access rights that correspond to his position or rank.
3. Session Monitoring and Recording: PAM solutions can also include a real-time monitoring and recording of privileged session activities to identify any suspicious actions and create a log for compliance.
4. Credential Vaulting: PAM often includes secure storage for privileged credentials, such as passwords, access keys, and tokens, which helps to prevent unauthorized access and ensures that credentials are used securely.
5. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): In addition to passwords, PAM solutions often integrate MFA that helps create another factor of protection when dealing with privileged accounts.

Types of Privileged Access and Management

Privileged Accounts refers to accounts that have a higher level of authority and control over other accounts within an organization and the organizations applications, systems and data. They are employed in managing and maintaining structures in IT but are sources of serious security threats when they are not well dealt with. Here are the main types of privileged accounts:

1. Local Administrative Accounts: These accounts are located on specific workstations, on servers, and on other pieces of equipment contained within an organization. They have local administrative privileged rights in the host computer which enable them to install software, set program options and manage users and groups.‍

2. Domain Administrative Accounts: Domain Admin accounts have elevated privileges across an entire network domain. These entities can control and modify all the computers and servers that are part of that domain, which makes them both very useful and very attractive to attackers.

3. Service Accounts: Service accounts are non-human accounts used by applications or services to interact with the operating system or other services. They usually have specific privileges needed for the application to function, such as running scheduled tasks, accessing databases, or performing backups.

4. Application Accounts: These are used by applications in making databases, networks or even any other application connection. Again, they usually come with special privileges for the application and are usually composed and written into the application code.

5. Emergency Accounts: often referred to as “break-glass” accounts, are rather privileged ones to be used when the standard accounts will not suffice. They give temporary privileged access to core systems to address emergent concerns.

6. Privileged User Accounts: These are accounts that are allocated to specific user and the user needs administrative access to his job. Such users might be system administrators, network engineers or security staff who require to monitor or secure the network.

7. Shared Accounts: Shared accounts are used by multiple users to access systems or perform tasks. Many of these accounts have special permissions but those permissions are granted to multiple users and therefore identification of those who are using the account as well as protection of the account becomes difficult.

8. Cloud and API Accounts: These are accounts, used to operate the cloud services or applications or to communicate with the cloud APIs. Because they frequently have large permissions to work with the cloud resources, they become very valuable objects for attackers.

9. Superuser Accounts: These accounts have the most privileged level of access in a system and are able to do anything in the system, including changing system files and configurations, overriding any other security controls that may be in place etc.

10. Privileged Network Device Accounts: These accounts are used in managing the network devices such as routers, switches and firewalls. They typically have rights to set up the network, monitor the flow of traffic and enforce policies on security.

What is a Privileged User?

A Privileged user is an authorized user of an organizational information system who is provided with a high level of access. Such users usually have administrative rights that allow them to control important systems, applications, as well as confidential information. The privileged users are involved in the maintenance, configuration, and security management of the system and, therefore, are valuable targets to cyber attackers. To address this problem of having privileged accounts, it is critical to have a suitable PAM solution that can track, regulate and protect these accounts against the risk of being compromised.

What are Privileged Accounts?

Privileged accounts are special user accounts that have elevated access rights and permissions, enabling users to perform administrative tasks within information systems. 

• Administrator Accounts: Be in charge of all the requirements of the system, customers and preferences.
• Service Accounts: Applied by applications and services, to interact with other systems for the purpose of automated procedure.
• Root Accounts: These accounts can be found in Unix/Linux systems, and these are said to grant full access to the system plus important functions.

Privileged accounts are used for managing the systems, installation of the software, and making configuration changes but they are dangerous. Such accounts receive high permissions, usually, they become victims of hackers and malicious persons.

How does PAM Work?

PAM operates with the process of protecting and managing privileged access to data and strategic systems in an organization. It works by pinpointing privileged accounts, these are accounts with higher access rights than normal users and controlling them using a single console. This involves the following steps:

1. Discovery and Classification: PAM tools search for all the privileged accounts in the network and categorize them depending on the level of privileges given.
2. Access Control: When identified, PAM implements measures that would limit access to the privileged accounts to only those who are credited to access them. This is often done through the use of multi-factor authentication (MFA) together with just-in-time access to reduce the amount of time during which such accounts are active.
3. Session Management: The PAM solutions track and log all the sessions, which involve privileged accounts. This keeps track of the actions made by the program or bot and this can always be linked to the user as an audit trail.
4. Password Management: To avoid exposure of privileged accounts through poor or reused passwords, PAM comes with a feature that helps to cycle through passwords for the accounts.
5. Audit and Compliance: PAM operates in a way that it always tracks activities related to privileged accounts and then produces reports for compliance and threat analysis.

By integrating these unique processes, PAM not only secures privileged accounts but also enhances the overall security framework of an organization, reducing the risk of data breaches and ensuring compliance with industry standards.

What are The Benefits of Privileged Access Management?

• Strengthened Security: PAM improves the security of an organization by limiting the access of employees to some important systems and information they need to work with. This also guarantees that only those who are allowed entry into the privileged accounts will do so, thereby minimizing the instance of a break-in and hacking.
• Minimized Insider Threats: In PAM, the principle of least privilege is practiced making sure that the user has only the access to the resource that he or she needs to perform the respective job. This makes it possible to minimize insiders’ abuses of their privileges either intentionally or through negligence.
• Operational Efficiency: PAM helps to automate several processes of managing privileged accounts like, password that rotates and access to accounts. This relieves some pressure from the IT departments as they can now spend their time on other important issues and better organizational performance is achieved.
• Improved Accountability and Auditing: PAM solutions come with features such as logging and monitoring features that capture all the activities related to privileged accounts. This makes it easy to track activities which boost accountability and makes it easy to track any security breaches and act on them.
• Protection Against External Attacks: Cyber criminals are normally keen on the privileged accounts. PAM assists in safeguarding these accounts via the use of enhanced forms of authentication, access control and by minimizing the vulnerability of privilege accounts.

Privileged Access Management (PAM) is a crucial element of any organizations’ security control. PAM is the process of controlling and supervising access to high-risk accounts and can alleviate the risks posed by suspicion inside and outside attackers. It works through a range of strong controls as in discovery mechanisms, access control mechanisms, session control mechanisms and password control mechanisms all of which are designed to address the risks of privilege account usage.

Infisign offers robust privileged access management solutions, safeguarding sensitive systems and data with advanced security controls and automation. Learn from experts with a free demo.