Benefits of Privileged Access Management

The more privileges and access a user, account, or process amasses, the
greater the potential for abuse, exploit, or error. Implementing privilege
management not only minimizes the potential for a security breach occurring,
it also helps limit the scope of a breach should one occur. Implementing PAM
best practices (removing admin rights, enforcing least privilege, eliminating
default/embedded credentials, etc.) are also an important piece of enterprise
IT systems hardening.

One differentiator between PAM and other types of security technologies is

that PAM can dismantle multiple points of the cyberattack chain, providing
protection against both external attack as well as attacks that make it within
networks and systems.

PAM confers several chief benefits, including:

 A condensed attack surface that protects against both internal and

external threats: Limiting privileges for people, processes, and
applications means the pathways and entrances for exploit are also
diminished.
 Reduced malware infection and propagation: Many varieties of
malware (such as SQL injections, which rely on lack of least privilege)
need elevated privileges to install or execute. Removing excessive
privileges, such as through least privilege enforcement across the
enterprise, can prevent malware from gaining a foothold, or reduce its
spread if it does.
 Enhanced operational performance: Restricting privileges to the
minimal range of processes to perform an authorized activity reduces
the chance of incompatibility issues between applications or systems,
and helps reduce the risk of downtime.
 Easier to achieve and prove compliance: By curbing the privileged
activities that can possibly be performed, privileged access
management helps create a less complex, and thus, a more audit-
friendly, environment.
 Help satisfy cyber insurance requirements: In recent years,
ransomware attacks and ransom payouts have hurt the bottom lines,
and threatened the viability, of the cyber insurance industry. Cyber
insurers appreciate that PAM controls reduce risk and stop threats, and
thus, are powerful tool in reducing cyber liability. Today, many cyber
insurers mandate PAM controls to renew or obtain new cyber liability
coverage. Cyber insurance requirement checklists that are part of, or
precede the insurance application process, commonly call out a number
of specific controls, such as “Has a PAM system to manage privileged
access and accounts."