Is your privileged access infrastructure ready for remote working?
When it comes to securing digital assets, many organisations feel that they’re already covered with identity and access management (IAM) platforms. Unfortunately, this isn’t true: IAM and Privileged Access Management (PAM) cover different routes inside your organisation’s network, protecting different levels of your digital environment against attack. Having IAM in place is only half the battle. To secure your most important data, you need PAM as well.
What is PAM?
PAM is your organisation’s first line of defence against malicious actors. If your PAM infrastructure isn’t right, then the rest of your security will be wrong, too. Privileged access refers to those accounts you want to secure that contain your most valuable and powerful data – you want to lock those down. This means keeping a close eye on who is gaining access to them, as well as how and when they’re gaining access.
You should start with PAM before anything else – think of it like managing a big rock concert. When it comes to your data, PAM vs IAM is the difference between sorting out the pop stars from the crowd. You sort out the entry points and access requirements for the performer and their manager first.
Once they’ve got their defined entry points into the stadium and you’ve made sure they’re scheduled to perform at that time, in that place, then you can think about how you’re going to sort out entry, tickets and access for all the adoring fans.
There are a lot more of them than there are performers and managers – you’ll need to take a different approach. This is the key difference between privileged access management and identity and access management.
How can I make sure my organisation’s PAM keeps remote workers safe?
The rock concert analogy works perfectly in normal times – but what happens when suddenly, people are watching from home? You can imagine it as a live stream. Of course, you’re going to have to record proceedings without spectators being there in person – but that gives you the power to control exactly what viewers see and when.
If you don’t want everyone to see backstage, then you have the power to control that – no cameras in there. If you want to add special features for particular viewers, you can, just as you would have done if they had been at the concert in person.
This carries through to the way you manage PAM in the pandemic. Your existing PAM system has to be adjusted to cope with secure remote working and third-party access. To get this right, your organisation needs to see exactly who needs access to sensitive information and how they get access to it, in order to maintain business continuity and security.
A powerful privileged access management system can define and protect your most important assets, while providing invaluable intelligence about your digital environment. The above diagram shows how senhasegura PAM can get your organisation ready to work remotely while staying secure. © senhasegura 2020.
What do I need to introduce pandemic-proof PAM?
You need the right tools and the experience to match. With our strategic partner, senhasegura, it’s fast, cost-effective and easy to do this, giving you a full, software-driven audit of your organisation’s privileged accounts and users in no time. It’s never been easier to get up to speed on the shape and size of your network’s privileged data.
Once you’ve run the discovery tool, you’ll understand where your organisation’s PAM requirements are for critical accounts, users and data. At this point, however, you will need to act on internal security weaknesses quickly and efficiently – before unwelcome actors do. In the process, your organisation needs to meet its compliance requirements – whether that’s GDPR (or equivalent) to protect and control data.
Won’t this take up a lot of resources?
No – in fact, these requirements don’t need to be daunting or expensive. With imaginative consultancy and implementation from Identity Methods and a flexible PAM solution from senhasegura, you can get the most out of your existing infrastructure without any rip-and-replace. This means no expensive pilots of new hardware, no outages and no sacrifice of your organisation’s operational efficiency.
PAM from senhasegura is a lightweight, highly user-friendly and cloud-based solution. It allows you to monitor, gateway and segment privileged access in the cloud. You get visionary vigilance over all the changes you make, as you make them, to get your data and access governance sorted. More importantly, senhasegura PAM wraps straightforwardly around existing parts of your secure remote access architecture – like VPNs and service portals – and allows you to react quickly to any breach or human error that could compromise the integrity of your most important digital assets. Best of all, it can be implemented remotely.
No matter where you are, senhasegura and Identity Methods can help you revolutionise your remote working environment with hyper-modern PAM that Gartner recognises as a Challenger. And with the right insight and implementation, your organisation can get rock-solid privileged access management without compromising on business value. Call us on (0)845 241 1836 or email info@identitymethods.co.uk to find out more, or talk to us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.