Privileged Access Management
What is Privileged Access Management?
Privileged Access Management, or PAM, is the set of controls, processes, and technologies used to secure, monitor, and manage accounts and actions that have elevated access to critical systems, applications, and data.
Examples
- An organization requires administrators to check out privileged credentials from a PAM vault instead of knowing permanent shared passwords.
- A security team records privileged remote sessions to domain controllers so sensitive administrative actions can be reviewed later.
Discover 🔎
Not every account in an organization carries the same level of risk. Some accounts can reset passwords, create users, change security settings, read sensitive databases, stop critical services, or disable logging. These are privileged accounts, and they matter far more to attackers than ordinary user access.
That is why PAM is such an important security discipline. If a normal account is compromised, the attacker may gain a foothold. If a privileged account is compromised, the attacker may gain control. PAM exists to reduce that risk by making elevated access harder to misuse, harder to steal, and easier to monitor.
Summary 📝
Privileged Access Management is the security discipline that focuses on protecting, controlling, and monitoring elevated access. It matters because privileged accounts can change systems, reach sensitive data, and bypass ordinary controls, making them especially attractive to attackers. Good PAM reduces that risk by securing credentials, limiting privilege, controlling sessions, and improving accountability.
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