Organizations can keep tabs on who has access to sensitive data, resources and accounts, processes, and critical information through privileged access management (PAM). PAM comprises cybersecurity technologies and policies for the regulation of privileged accesses and permissions.
Now that we know basically what is privileged access management, let us talk about some best practices for effectively implementing PAM.
- Evaluate the security of privileged accounts
Evaluating privileged accounts in a company thoroughly requires time and energy. Nevertheless, it’s essential to distinguish between regular user accounts and privileged ones. The conventional wisdom holds that privileged users can modify systems, whereas normal users only access and use them.
Think about how the person in charge of the social media account could affect your company. Is their job altering the database in the background, or are they social media users? How does a company determine which operations are the riskiest and which accounts are involved in those activities? Who can see these files? In terms of potential danger, how would you rate such privileged accounts?
Companies often need help seeing this because they rush to complete an audit or tick a box. On the other hand, businesses can better comprehend their possible weaknesses by evaluating their privileged accounts according to risk.
- Eliminate orphaned accounts
Without a human owner, orphaned accounts are easy prey for cybercriminals. Those who commit evil take advantage of orphaned accounts that have privileges. Considering all possible identities in your environment while evaluating privileged accounts is important.
Please take action to put unowned accounts under governance, assign an owner, or delete them when you discover them but don’t know who is accountable for them or where they came from.
- Hold users to their credentials
Particularly with privileged accounts, shared credentials pose a significant threat. There is no way to stop users from disclosing their credentials. To mitigate this risk, however, it is helpful to establish a Privileged Access Management procedure to hold individuals responsible for using credentials.
Another way to lessen the chances of credential sharing is to stress that everyone on the team is responsible for anything concerning their identification.
- Identity access to privileged systems
In most cases, granting privileged access to certain users is based on some underlying procedure or business rationale. Any company worth its salt will carefully consider user roles when deciding what access levels to provide them.
Updated identity management systems, particularly those that interface well with Privileged Access Management solutions, should make managing which people should have access to privileged systems easier. Admins should be able to easily add or remove access levels for identities in your environment using this.
- Implement multi-factor authentication
The “never trust, always verify” principle is central to Zero Trust. Even though privileged session users will frequently check one set of credentials, it’s prudent always to double-check their identities with another set of authentications. Multi-factor authentication is all about adding an extra layer of security before letting a user access critical information.
- User roles segregation
Every identity that requires access to privileged systems must adhere to the concept of least privilege and separate their roles. Users should use different credentials for everyday tasks and highly select sessions. To avoid this, it is necessary to establish environment-wide roles and functions to allow users to utilize unique credentials for each type of account.
- Train your staff
When people are familiar with a procedure and can see both the benefits and the drawbacks of not following it, they are more likely to follow it. For any Privileged Access Management program to be successful, user buy-in is essential.
Try to gain that support because keeping things secure will only happen if users are on board or see the need. In addition, enabling teams can benefit greatly from training, user manuals, videos, and other tools that clarify and simplify Privileged Access Management processes.
Team members need that education to pick the easiest way to get what they need, which could have disastrous consequences. You may lessen the impact of these dangers by educating your team, gaining their support, and giving them opportunities to contribute.
Conclusion:
There is a far higher chance of abuse by malicious insiders or outsiders without a thorough Privileged Access Management program. Companies can manage their secret accounts effectively using these Privileged Access Management best practices.