Privileged Access Management: Protecting Your Crown Jewels from Internal and External Threats
Privileged accounts—those with administrative rights to critical systems—represent the most attractive target for attackers. A single compromised privileged credential gives attackers complete control over infrastructure, data, and operations. Yet many organisations manage privileged access inadequately, creating unnecessary risk.
Understanding the Threat
When attackers breach networks, their primary objective is obtaining privileged credentials. With administrative access, they can steal data, manipulate systems, harvest additional credentials, move laterally across infrastructure, and establish persistent access that survives detection attempts.
Internal threats pose equal concern. Disgruntled employees with privileged access can cause massive damage. Even well-intentioned administrators make mistakes that impact critical systems. Without proper controls and audit trails, detecting and responding to privileged account misuse becomes nearly impossible.
Common PAM Weaknesses
Many organisations share privileged passwords across multiple administrators, making accountability impossible. Credentials stored in spreadsheets or shared documents lack encryption and access controls. Privileged accounts often remain permanently active rather than granted just-in-time when needed. Session recording is absent, eliminating visibility into what actions administrators performed.
Service accounts present particular challenges. Applications and systems require privileged access to function, but these credentials are embedded in scripts, stored in configuration files, or never rotated. Attackers specifically target these service accounts knowing they provide access without triggering user behaviour analytics.
Implementing Effective PAM
Modern privileged access management addresses these weaknesses through several key capabilities. Secure credential vaulting encrypts and stores privileged credentials in a protected repository. Automated password rotation regularly changes credentials without manual intervention. Just-in-time access grants privileges only when needed and automatically revokes them after specified periods.
Session recording captures everything privileged users do during administrative sessions, providing complete audit trails for compliance and investigation. Risk-based access policies can require additional authentication for high-risk scenarios whilst streamlining low-risk access.
Beyond Technology
Technology alone doesn't ensure effective PAM. Clear policies must define who can access what under which circumstances. Regular audits verify privileged access remains appropriate. Training ensures administrators understand their responsibilities and the importance of proper procedures.
Measuring Success
Effective PAM delivers tangible benefits including reduced attack surface through limited standing privileges, improved compliance through comprehensive audit trails, decreased insider threat risk, faster incident response through complete visibility, and simplified regulatory compliance demonstration.
Expert Implementation
Altiatech specialises in PAM implementation across applications and services, ensuring privileged actions are managed, audited, and evaluated according to your security profile. We work with leading PAM solutions, matching technology to your operational requirements.
Ready to secure your privileged access?
You can discuss PAM implementation tailored to your organisation's needs and risk profile with us.
📞 +44 (0)330 332 5482 | 📧 innovate@altiatech.com
