Privileged Access Management (PAM) is a cybersecurity strategy that helps organizations control, monitor, and secure privileged access and permissions for users, accounts, processes, and systems across an IT environment. PAM works through a combination of people, processes, and technology and gives visibility into who is using privileged accounts and what they are doing while they are logged in. By enforcing the principle of least privilege, PAM restricts access rights and permissions for users, accounts, applications, systems, devices, and computing processes to the absolute minimum necessary to perform routine, authorized activities.
Privileged access refers to accounts with elevated capabilities beyond regular users, such as super user accounts, domain administrative accounts, and service accounts. These accounts are significant targets for attack as they have elevated permissions, access to confidential information, and the ability to change settings. If compromised, a large amount of damage could be done to organizational operations.
PAM is important because it helps organizations condense their attack surface and prevent or mitigate the damage arising from external attacks, as well as from insider malfeasance or negligence. PAM is considered by analysts and cybersecurity experts as a critical component of any comprehensive cybersecurity strategy.
