Best Practices for Effective Privileged Access Management (PAM)

Marcus Scharra

senhasegura

December 27, 2024

Privileged accounts are highly coveted targets for malicious attackers due to the extensive access they provide. According to the 2024 Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report, nearly 40% of data breaches involve privileged accounts. Additionally, breaches involving these accounts incur higher costs. Research from IBM and the Ponemon Institute indicates that while the average cost of a data breach is $4.35 million, breaches involving privileged accounts average $4.50 million.

These accounts, often referred to as “keys to the kingdom,” enable critical actions such as modifying system settings or transferring financial resources. The proliferation of privileged accounts, driven by digital transformation initiatives like 5G, cloud computing, and IoT, has compounded the challenge. With stringent regulatory requirements such as GDPR (Europe), LGPD (Brazil), and CCPA (California), protecting privileged credentials is essential for reducing cyber risks, avoiding hefty fines, and ensuring business continuity.

Challenges in Privileged Access Management

Discovery and Management: Identifying and managing all privileged access is a significant challenge, especially with the shift to cloud environments (IaaS and PaaS) and development settings.
Third-Party Access: The rise in third-party consultants, vendors, and experts necessitates temporary privileged access. The Ponemon Institute found that 66% of companies are unaware of the number of third-party relationships they have or how they are managed. Furthermore, 61% have experienced breaches associated with third parties.
Privilege Abuse: Implementing the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) is difficult due to the complexity of determining necessary privileges and the time required to assign them. Excessive permissions can be exploited by attackers if not revoked timely.
Insider Threats: Traditional security models based on perimeter defense are inadequate as threats increasingly come from within. The 2024 Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report states that 40% of data breaches are caused by internal actors.
Stolen Credentials: Phishing and social engineering attacks lead to credential theft. Verizon’s DBIR report indicates that nearly 40% of breaches occur through stolen credentials.

Customer Preferences and Requirements for PAM Adoption

Flexibility: PAM solutions must adapt to various deployment topologies and integrate seamlessly with existing methodologies and infrastructure, including support for different configurations for high availability and disaster recovery.
Scalability: Essential for accommodating a range of organizational sizes and workloads, including managing multiple deployment locations and supporting numerous concurrent users.
Usability: A user-friendly PAM solution reduces training efforts and minimizes disruption to daily operations.
Integration: Compatibility with multiple assets, including legacy systems, is critical for a smooth adoption process.
Compliance and Reporting: With growing regulatory requirements, PAM solutions must offer comprehensive auditing and reporting features to help organizations comply with regulations like LGPD, GDPR, HIPAA, and SOX. This includes detailed logs of privileged access and actions taken during those sessions.
Cost-Effectiveness: Balancing advanced security features with cost-efficiency is crucial for organizations seeking the best value for their investment.

Best Practices for Implementing a PAM Program

Stakeholder Mapping and Requirements: Identify stakeholders and key PAM requirements across different organizational areas. Define roles and responsibilities, and establish groups for access segregation. Securing top management support is critical from the project’s inception.
Milestone-Based Implementation: Implement PAM in stages, starting with basic use cases before advancing to more complex ones. This phased approach ensures steady progress and minimizes disruption.
Mapping Use Cases to PAM Functionalities: Align identified use cases with appropriate PAM functionalities. Deploy specialized PAM tools like senhasegura to address specific needs. Select vendors based on availability, compliance, and support capabilities, and conduct a Proof of Concept (PoC) to determine the best fit.
User Training: Ensure that users understand the benefits of PAM and are adequately trained to operate the deployed tools. Effective training fosters better adoption and compliance.
Continuous Monitoring and Improvement: Regularly review and update PAM policies and practices to adapt to evolving threats and organizational changes. Continuous monitoring ensures that privileged access remains secure.

Conclusion

Cyberattacks are inevitable, and their impact can be devastating. Privileged credentials are often at the center of these attacks, making a robust PAM program essential. By following these best practices and considering key customer preferences, organizations can significantly enhance their cybersecurity posture and reduce the risks associated with privileged access. Implementing a comprehensive PAM strategy should be a top priority for information security leaders across all industries.

By focusing on these critical areas, organizations can better protect their sensitive assets, comply with regulatory requirements, and ensure long-term business resilience.

About the Author

Best Practices for Effective Privileged Access Management (PAM) Marcus Scharra, Co-founder and CEO at senhasegura, is a computer engineer and has a master’s degree from São Paulo’s University in Information Security and Artificial Intelligence for pattern recognition in corporate environments using artificial neural networks.

With a series of articles and published works, he’s been an entrepreneur for over twenty years, as the founder of six tech companies. senhasegura is one of the solutions developed by the first of its companies, MT4 Technology, currently present in more than 60 countries. In the last few years, senhasegura was placed as a Leader by many analysts, such as KuppingerCole and Software Reviews, and considered by Gartner as a Challenger technology in the 2021 Magic Quadrant report for PAM. His companies have received several renowned recognitions, such as the ISC² Annual Americas Information Security Leadership Awards.

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusscharra/
Company Profile: www.senhaesgura.com