They say control things you can control. For businesses, this translates to protecting the most sensitive access points to avoid expensive breaches and data misuse. Privileged Identity Management (PIM) is exactly that! A crucial safeguard that enterprises need to manage diligently today.
Believe it or not, a single privileged account left unprotected can open the door to security risks nowadays. We bet you can’t afford that. But again,
– What exactly is PIM?
– How is it different from the broader IAM systems businesses commonly use?
– What are top tools available to effectively manage privileged identities?
– Who can help you with this approach?
A lot of questions are swirling around in your mind, right? Don’t worry, API Connects – best identity access management solutions provider is here to provide all the answers. In this blog, we will break down everything you need to know about privileged identity management. We will equip you with the clarity and confidence you need to take charge of your enterprise’s most critical digital keys.
Let’s start.
What Is Privileged Identity Management?
Privileged Identity Management (PIM) refers to a security practice that aims at controlling, monitoring, and managing accounts and admissions with increased privileges of access within an organization. These privileged accounts, either handled by administrators or critical systems, have granted expanded access to sensitive data and crucial IT resources.
PIM makes certain all these powerful accounts are secure as the access level is strictly controlled with access granted on a just-in-time basis. Any activities are audited to block any misuse or illicit actions.
Why is Privileged Identity Management Important?
Want to safeguard most sensitive access with your enterprise? Then, having PIM is pivotal. The digital landscape is rife with cyber threats. Therefore, controlling who can access critical systems and data is paramount. It can help you avoid costly breaches and operational disruptions.
Here are more reasons to use a privileged identity management approach:
– Elevated security: PIM closely regulates and tracks privileged accounts. It can help you expose cybercriminals and insiders, reducing attack surface and preventing unauthorized access.
– Minimized insider threats: Despite the fact that your employees can be trusted, there’s still a chance that they may maliciously or unintentionally abuse their access. PIM puts a stringent control into effect. Mitigating its misuse and ensuring accountability.
– Improved compliance: A lot of laws like GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS need strong access controls. Privileged identity management can help you enforce policies, audit trails, and monitor in real time. In simple words, your enterprise will be able to meet these standards.
– Audit and forensics: Extensive audit trails of privileged account activity can make it easy to discover a step-by-step history of what was performed by a particular user. Facilitating investigations necessary in the case of security breaches.
– Operational efficiency: Another known benefit of choosing this approach. Automating access management and centralizing oversight in PIM minimizes time-consuming administrative overheads and IT costs. It allows you to respond quickly to access requests and incidents.
– Reduced risk profile: Just-in-time access (also called paper-thin access) and frequent password rotations prevent lingering vulnerabilities. Reducing the chances of privilege abuse.
– Business continuity: Quick revocation of compromised credentials and real-time monitoring will reduce downtime induced by a security breach or attacks.
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How is Privileged Identity Management Different From IAM?
Many think that both IAM and PIM have the same roles. It’s actually not the case. While it’s true that both are critical components of an organization’s security framework, they have distinct roles. For starters, identity and access management involve managing the overall process of user identities and controlling access to resources across the entire company.
Privileged identity management, however, focuses specifically on handling and securing privileged accounts. Here are more points that will showcase differences between these two security approaches:
– Framework of access management: IAM lets you manage identities and access roles of all individuals within your organization (be it employees, contractors, and third parties). PIM is focused on the privileged accounts that possess greater permissions which are a greater risk and need special control measures.
– Focus area: When it comes to focus, IAM is known ot cover the complete lifecycle of user identities. This includes authentication, authorization, provisioning, and de-provisioning in all resources. PIM, however, is more so concerned with secure management of privileged identities. This includes access moratorium, monitoring, and enforcement of least privilege.
– Risk level: Adversaries can unlock the data accessed using privileged accounts that PIM controls. Meaning, significant impact can still take place. IAM covers access risk on a wider basis to all users yet does not deliver granular control over high-risk privileged access.
– Access control enforcement: IAM often relies on role-based access control (RBAC) to assign permissions based on the role of the user. Tighter controls brought by the implementation of PIM include just-in-time (JIT) access, temporary permission privilege raise, and privileged session monitoring. In this case, the latter has the upper hand!
– Monitoring and auditing: IAM delivers audit trails and logging of every activity of the user. PIM adds deeper monitoring capabilities. For example, you can do real-time monitoring of privileged sessions, record commands executed, and get alerts on suspicious privileged actions.
– Password and credential management: While IAM lets enterprises allow their users to easily manage passwords and authentication, PIM adds a cherry on top of the whole situation. It employs advanced credential management practices including vaulting, automated password rotation, and multi-factor authentication.
– Goal and strategy: IAM’s goal is broad. To ensure proper authorization of the rightful users have proper resources at the right time. PIM’s goal is more precise: to reduce the risks by tightening the management of who, when, and how to acquire privileged identities.
– Integration and subsets: Truth is privileged identity management is a subtype of identity and access management. It often works in conjunction with privileged access management (PAM) solutions. Although IAM sets the foundation for identity governance, the most sensitive access points can be given specialized enhancements via PIM.
What are the Best Privileged Identity Management Tools?
Here are some of the best tools for enterprises to use:
CyberArk
CyberArk is considered gold standard in privileged access management. A specialist in protecting high-risk privileged accounts through isolating, monitoring, and controlling access to critical systems. This PIM tool is available with features like just-in-time access, session recording, and automatic credential rotation. These make it suitable for industries that rely heavily on compliance regulations.
Delinea (former Thycotic and Centrify)
Next privileged identity management tool on our list is Delinea. This software provides an all-in-one dashboard to find, control, and assign privileged account access across diverse platforms. It adheres to least privilege policies and automates password management. Using this solution, you can adapt well to both cloud and on-premises deployment.
BeyondTrust
BeyondTrust is all about its name! Enterprises love it because it offers end-to-end PAM capabilities like endpoint privilege management, password vaulting, and privileged remote access without VPNs. Your organization can use it for in-depth auditing, SSH, and RDP access. Best part? It can be easily integrated with common authentication protocols.
Okta PAM
One of the best privileged identity management solutions. Okta is apt for cloud-native environments. It supports role-based access control, real-time session monitoring, and automation of access requests. Okta PAM can be tightly integrated with its identity platform to have an easier time managing privileged access and regular user management.
ManageEngine PAM360
A web-based program by ManageEngine, PAM360 is an intuitive suite with privileged credential vaulting, just-in-time privileges, and AI-driven anomaly detection. It is top of the line in account discovery across the IT infrastructure. In fact, it simplifies compliance audits.
One Identity Safeguard
Another useful privileged identity management tool. One Identity Safeguard helps in assessing risk before granting privileged access. It also makes verifying authenticated users easy by using configurable multi-factor authentication. Enterprises that use this software can benefit from its comprehensive audit trails and single login in support. These features improve access control and minimize human error.
Microsoft Privileged Access Management
Part of Microsoft Entra ID, this tool focuses on privilege elevation, credential rotation (just-in-time), and advanced audit features. Microsoft’s PAM is appropriate for hybrid cloud environments as company can match privileged access controls with broader identity governance.
Hire API Connects For Privilege Identity Management
There you go!
We told you everything about PIM for enterprises. As you can see, managing these is no small feat. Navigating the complex landscape of cybersecurity, compliance, and access control can make you feel overwhelmed. Hiring API Connects, however, can help you tackle this issue.
Our team of skilled engineers understands exclusive challenges enterprises face. We offer tailored privileged identity management solutions that will help you simply secure access control, reduce risks, and ensure regulatory compliance.
Having us on your side means you can focus on your business confidently. Knowing that most sensitive digital assets are protected by true professionals. So, what are you waiting for? Call us at 0220496532 to initiate a discussion!
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