New ways of working have pushed many organisations to think hard about how the users within them access company infrastructure. Privileged Access Management (PAM) and Identity Access Management (IAM) are common methods that improve the manageability of high-level security — regardless of device or location.
Identity Access Management: Often described as a security framework, IAM guarantees that the right users have the appropriate permissions to access the resources they need.
Advantages of IAM
- IAM can be used on premise or in the cloud. Given today's technology, hybrid working environments and easy access to the cloud are now an undeniable reality.
- In the past, IT staff had to create users along with their security procedures and authentication steps one by one. Today, IAM lets IT teams build complex security procedures in a very short time.
Disadvantages of IAM
- Providers generally offer IAM solutions optimised specifically for their own platforms. Although IAM solutions are relatively widespread, organisations can sometimes struggle to manage the multiple IAM products that arrive with their service subscriptions. The right solution unifies IAM processes to provide greater visibility and ease of use.
What Is PAM?
A subset of IAM, PAM allows organisations to limit and control user actions and access to sensitive information.
Advantages of PAM
- Organisations need protection beyond passwords to manage PAM. Critical information must be secured at all times. PAM offers dynamic authentication for every session, so even if access is gained through IAM, dynamic authentication provides an additional barrier.
- Reducing access to critical systems visibly lowers incident-response times. Despite modern security systems, user error can create weaknesses that force IT teams into rapid action. By reducing access to critical systems, PAM plays an important role in emergencies.
Disadvantages of PAM
- It requires organisations and IT teams to define priorities and permissions very carefully for each profile type.
Key Differences Between IAM and PAM
Although both relate to cyber-security and access control, they serve different audiences. IAM solutions are generally accessible to all of an organisation's users; each user can access company infrastructure with their assigned permissions, regardless of the device they use.
PAM solutions, by contrast, address users who need broader permissions to access critical data. While IAM identifies every user and grants access to the systems they require, PAM restricts user permissions over more sensitive systems and grants administrator rights only to the users who genuinely need them.
Least Privilege
Every module and user should be able to access only the information and resources required for their purpose.
The Concept of Zero-Trust
No user who is not authenticated is granted access to any resource under any circumstances.
How PAM Counters Cyber-Attacks
- It secures privileged accounts.
- At the moment of access it adopts a zero-trust model in which the user is precisely identified.
- It collects, stores, manages and authenticates privileged users, then records and analyses their activity.
PAM Best Practices
- Apply least-privilege principles.
- Keep track of all privileged accounts.
- Use just-in-time privileged accounts as an alternative where possible.
- Use automation to prevent user error.
- Monitor, log and audit.
- Use MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication).