If protected identities are the fun-size chocolates of an identity fabric, then privileged identities are the entire candy bowl. Critical for internal users and tempting prizes for bad actors, whoever gets their hands onto these privileged identities can do as they will with all the delicious morsels inside. Privileged identity management solutions seek to provide the best possible candy bowl, one that is easy for authorized users to reach into while keeping the grubby mitts of hackers out.
Cybersecurity and efficiency are your two main priorities when creating your privileged identity management solution, and each is of equal importance. Without good data protection, confidential data can fall into the hands of bad actors who expose customer secrets. Without efficient identity management, your identities will be essentially useless since they’ll be too difficult to alter. An identity management solution capable of satisfying both is a worthy platform for your privileged identities.
Secure Privileged Identity Management Solutions
Your privileged identities face many potential threats, chief among them the prospect of credential abuse. The 2013 Target HVAC attack and 2023 MOVEit breaches both resulted from privileged accounts becoming compromised. In the first case, the importance of third-party privileged identities proved to be the trouble. In the second, a lack of defining privileged users made unauthenticated accounts able to make changes to the core of victims’ systems. Each attack vector was opened up by a lack of proper privileged identity management solutions.
Of all the management solutions to look at, PAM is the best place to start. It comes with two major features pertinent to your cybersecurity needs. The first is active monitoring which records all actions taken with your systems. This provides you with a clear chain of custody and play-by-play, allowing you to always be ready with an answer to the 6 most important identity and access security questions. Equipped with the monitoring metrics, your enterprise is able to make informed decisions about the precise amount of privileges an account should have. This control keeps data secure from hackers and safeguarded even in the event of a breach.
However, it can go a step further with automated IGA. By instituting RBAC, your PAM automatically flags and alerts you about suspicious behavior. Then it automatically enforces your policy and even isolates breaches while they are still in progress. What happens when hackers compromise your credentials(the most common attack vector)? Adaptive MFA detects suspicious factors. These include unusual geolocation or time of day and result in the issue of a challenge for authentication. Whether you’re protecting electronic health records, secure banking data, or consumer info, PAM enabled by IGA provides an effective perimeter around each identity.
Enable Efficiency Through Identity Solutions
The ability to swiftly remediate security issues using central PAM and IGA controls is crucial. They can be the deciding factor in whether a breach is contained or results in a humiliating public incident. However, with the right setup those same systems can also make your identity platforms easier to use. Additionally, this ease of use extends not only to your privileged identities, but also to all profiles in your system. Experts build your privileged identity management solution to touch all corners of your identity fabric. Therefore, you will be able to institute quality of life and speed of service as well.
One of the most important benefits of an agile privileged identity solution is the acceleration of onboarding. By having RBAC in place, you can quickly act on your J-M-L pipeline. For example, a major energy company reduced app onboarding times by 89% by leveraging PAM controls. Furthermore, this is one area where security intersects with performance. By automating this process, you can automatically de-provision accounts which no longer need certain kinds of access. This both enforces the PoLP and cuts off orphaned accounts, all while reducing the manpower needed to administrate.
CIAM solutions likewise provide good ROI for customers’ frictionless security. Your previous investments provide excellent utility when implemented by an expert team crafting a bespoke solution around your specific needs. In this case, their solution gives a boost to your platform’s self-service capabilities. These abilities extend not only to consumer-driven fields like retail but any industry based on user-interaction. Adaptive MFA makes for on the go security while SSO and automated password resets. Consequently, these capabilities cut back on help-desk requests for password resets by up to 85%.
Effectively Implementing Your Ideal Privileged Identity Management Solution
So how do these benefits take the leap from the words of this blog to the highlights of your quarterly report? You need to start with an assessment by people who know what the best course of action is to take to improve your identity fabric. The fewer mistakes made in the plan, the better the ultimate result will be. If you employ a team with experience and knowledge, you can produce a multifaceted identity success story. They need to come in and take a look at where your identity fabric is, where it should be, and how to get there. Should your enterprise commit to such a strategy, you can expect a major boost in your identity maturity.
Subsequently, you need to capitalize on those strategies. If you’ve chosen your service provider well, you can call on the same people to carry out the improvements that did your assessment. Your previous success with their services provides you with a pre-established baseline of trust in their competence. Additionally, they can deliver a practical action plan, advise you on generating buy-in, and provide a clear roadmap leading to your ideal privileged identity management solution.
Finally, keep up momentum by having the identity services provider perform regular maintenance for your solution. By having your implementation done right from the start, you encounter fewer unforeseen issues. This is especially true of your compliance needs, with your platform automatically collecting audit data and satisfying protection standards. Thus you enjoy a lower cost of maintenance. Such experts can predict which investments need to be made and where, saving you the trouble of fumbling about. Finally you can breathe easy, confident that your privileged identities are fortified by a trusted managed identity service.
Contact a Simeio identity advisor now and start planning for the best privileged identity management solution you can get.
