Data breaches are an ever-present threat in today's digital landscape. While many factors contribute to these incidents, one area plays a particularly critical role: privileged access. From critical infrastructure to healthcare to manufacturing, no sector is safe from the sophisticated methods of cybercriminals. These attackers are always looking for the easiest way to gain access to the most valuable resources, and frighteningly, that way is often through the compromise of privileged accounts.
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While many factors contribute to these incidents, one area plays a particularly critical role: privileged access. In this installment of our blog series on data breaches, we take a deep dive into privileged access management (PAM) - an essential pillar of cybersecurity for organizations of all sizes, especially in healthcare, manufacturing and critical infrastructure in Germany and Austria. Learn why controlling your privileged access is not just a best practice, but an absolute must to effectively protect your valuable data and systems.
Privileged Access Management (PAM) is a comprehensive approach and set of technologies aimed at ensuring the security of privileged accounts and associated access rights in an IT environment. It goes far beyond the simple management of users and passwords. At its core, PAM is concerned with securing, managing and monitoring all human and non-human identities that have elevated access rights to business-critical systems, applications and data.
Think of PAM as the high-security gateway that controls access to the most important areas of your organization. It ensures that only authorized individuals (or systems) with the absolutely necessary rights are granted access for a limited time, and that their every action is logged and monitored. This minimizes the risk of misuse, negligence or external cyber-attacks targeting these highly privileged accesses.
To understand PAM, it is helpful to first look at the overarching concept of access management. Access management encompasses all the processes and technologies that control who can access which resources within a company. It is about providing the right people with the right authorizations at the right time. Privileged Access Management (PAM) is a specific but critical discipline within this broader access management.
While general access management governs access for all users and roles, PAM focuses explicitly on managing and securing the "crown jewels" - those accounts and accesses that represent the greatest power and risk. It is the sharpest lens of access management, focusing on the most critical access rights.
Privileged accounts are digital identities that have far-reaching powers within IT systems and applications. In contrast to normal user accounts, which only have limited rights, privileged accounts can perform critical operations, such as
Examples of privileged accounts are administrator accounts (local and domain), service accounts, emergency accounts ("break-glass accounts") and also accounts of external service providers with extended access rights.
Privileged access is the ability to perform the aforementioned wide-ranging operations using a privileged account. It is closely linked to the concept of access rights, which determine what actions a user or system is allowed to perform on a particular resource.
While normal access rights often only allow the reading or editing of files, privileged access rights allow far-reaching changes to systems and data. Disregarding or abusing these rights poses a significant security risk. This is where PAM comes in to precisely control and monitor these accesses.
The implementation of a robust PAM system offers a number of advantages that go beyond mere risk minimization.
Reducing the attack vector: By minimizing the number of privileged accounts and limiting their access to the bare essentials, the attack surface for cybercriminals is drastically reduced.
Preventing data breaches: PAM solutions make it much more difficult for attackers to hijack privileged accounts and move laterally across the network, significantly reducing the likelihood of a successful data breach.
Regulatory compliance: Many industry regulations and data privacy laws (such as GDPR in healthcare) require strict controls over privileged access. PAM helps companies meet these requirements and successfully pass audits.
Improved transparency and auditability: Every action performed via a privileged account is logged and can be tracked. This enables a complete audit trail in the event of a security incident.
Increase operational efficiency: By automating password rotations and providing secure credentials, IT staff can work more efficiently without compromising security.
Protection against insider threats: PAM also helps prevent malicious or negligent actions by internal employees who have access to privileged accounts.
Although the benefits are obvious, the introduction of PAM can also bring challenges:
Complexity: especially in large and heterogeneous IT environments, identifying and managing all privileged accounts can be a complex task.
User acceptance: New processes and tools may initially meet with resistance from users, especially if they are perceived as cumbersome. Good
communication and training are crucial here.
Integration: PAM solutions often need to be integrated into existing IT systems and processes, which can present technical challenges.
Continuous maintenance: PAM is not a one-off project, but requires continuous monitoring, adaptation and updating of policies.
In today's threat landscape, where sophisticated attacks are becoming more common, Privileged Access Management is no longer a "nice-to-have" but a "must-have".
In the healthcare sector: Here, sensitive patient data is the most valuable asset. A compromised privileged account could lead to massive data breaches, loss of trust and significant legal consequences. PAM protects critical systems such as electronic health records (EHR) and medical devices.
In manufacturing: Industry 4.0 and networked production facilities are vulnerable to cyberattacks. An attacker who gains access to privileged accounts in control systems could manipulate production, steal trade secrets or even cause physical damage. PAM secures these OT environments.
In critical organizations (energy supply, water management, etc.): The impact of a cyber attack on these sectors could be catastrophic and jeopardize public safety. PAM is an indispensable tool here to strengthen resilience to cyber threats and ensure continuity of supply.
PAM is at the heart of effective access control. It enables companies to consistently implement the principle of least privilege - only granting the necessary authorizations for the necessary time. This minimizes the risk of attackers being able to cause widespread damage after a successful intrusion.
By proactively managing and securing your privileged access, you strengthen your overall cyber defenses and protect your business from the devastating consequences of data breaches. Invest in PAM to make your digital future more secure.
Privileged access management is complex, but Application Control and Device Control provide powerful support. Advanced Application Control uses dynamic whitelisting and intelligent rights management to ensure that only authorized applications can run. In addition, Device Control prevents data transfer via unencrypted or unauthorized media. This allows organizations to protect all data and devices and fully control the flow of data to and from their systems, providing an essential foundation for comprehensive IT security.
As an IT security professional in healthcare, manufacturing or a critical organization, you face unique challenges. Click the button below to request a demo of our application and device control solutions and learn how you can effectively protect your critical data and systems.