Invisible Privileged Access Management: Adoption Skyrockets

Written by Delinea Team | Apr 20, 2021 8:00:03 AM

Traditional PAM solutions require users to interrupt their workflow to access privileged credentials. They must switch screens and switch contexts, slowing their productivity. Frustrated, busy users are more likely to skirt security policies when PAM is difficult to use.

Privileged access management must be embedded in daily workflow

To realize the benefits of enterprise PAM, software must be integrated and interoperable. Privileged access management must be embedded in people’s daily workflow and orchestrated behind the scenes. PAM must be virtually invisible.

What’s invisible PAM?

With invisible PAM, organizations can seamlessly access and manage secrets of all kinds (traditional passwords as well as digital keys and credentials) without any friction or disruption. Invisible PAM integrates into the background to reduce cyber fatigue and empower happy employees.

Invisible PAM secures all types of privileged access for IT users, business users, and even non-human privileged accounts.

Download our free whitepaper: Invisible PAM: Balancing Productivity and Security Behind the Scenes

Invisible PAM helps IT teams increase efficiency and reduce risk

The work of IT operations teams traditionally involves fragmented information and disjointed record keeping. Tedious, manual work increases human error and the risk of a privileged account attack. It’s not the most effective way to use the time of IT experts and it’s impossible to scale.

In contrast, invisible PAM can scale across a complex, growing enterprise by orchestrating privileged security and IT functions across multiple disparate systems. With orchestration, changes to privileged accounts and credentials made in one system are immediately reflected in connected systems. Identities, roles, permissions, and activities are all synched and security policies are followed consistently regardless of geography, business unit, or technology.

Invisible PAM integrates with systems across an enterprise IT environment, such as:

IAM and IGA systems such as SailPoint
ITSM systems such as ServiceNow
Remote Desktop systems such as Connection Manager
Collaboration tools such as Slack
Databases such as SQL and Oracle
Tools in the DevOps workflow and CI/CD toolchain
Browser-based admin panels for AWS, Azure, and GCP
SIEM systems such as Splunk

Invisible PAM helps privileged business users stay productive and secure

When PAM is too complex, business users may instead store passwords in browser-based personal password managers and vaults.

For an enterprise, personal password vaults are insufficient for many reasons. They don’t provide oversight or control to ensure compliance requirements are met. They don’t enforce, only recommend, password complexity, rotation or expiration policies, requirements for MFA, etc. With multiple password vaults in use throughout an organization, central IT security teams can’t create consistent, comprehensive reports for execs or auditors.

With invisible PAM, users don’t need to use personal vaults. They don’t need to store passwords in their browsers or use iCloud keychains.

Instead, invisible PAM auto-fills passwords so they’re never revealed to business users. For web-based applications and websites, people can access privileged credentials directly from their browsers. They don’t need to install software or wrestle with VPNs.

Invisible PAM can operate without any human intervention at all

With invisible PAM, common trigger events can initiate a series of automated actions, saving IT time so they can focus on alerts that need more investigation or complex responses. With PAM software integration, if a privileged credential’s heartbeat fails, indicating a password has been changed outside of the central PAM solution, a triggered action can rotate that password automatically and bring control back into the central PAM vault.

Invisible PAM isn’t some far-off future

Even today, most Secret Server users never need to interact directly with Privileged Access Management technology at all. They work securely within the same IT and business productivity systems they already know and use every day.

Want to know more?

To learn more, download Delinea's eBook, Expert's Guide to Privileged Access Management:

View full post