Understanding Privileged Access Management for Businesses

Privileged Access Management is becoming very important for businesses globally. As a business in Africa, it is essential that you understand what it means, how it works, and why you should sign up for a PAM system. Gaining this understanding puts your brand at an advantage and allows you to improve your cybersecurity and protect your brand from all possible risks.

Did you know that according to WebinarCare, 60% of mid-sized businesses that have asked their employees to work remotely experienced a cyberattack, 56% of those experienced credential theft, and 48% experienced social engineering, such as phishing?

A survey by Forrester Research revealed that 80% of companies with poor PAM processes had experienced at least one data breach in the past three years.

This post will present you with a clear understanding of privileged access management for businesses. It will cover privileged access management, how it works, and why it is important to businesses like yours.

What is Privileged Access Management?

Privileged Access Management is also known as PAM. It is a set of technologies, strategies, and policies employed to monitor, control, and secure access to service and human accounts. These accounts usually contain critical resources that should be protected from cybersecurity risks.

Another school of thought views PAM as an IT security process that employs policy-based software to control who accesses sensitive information and systems. The accounts under PAM are known as privileged accounts, and they are reliant on secrets to control access. These secrets include certificates, keys, and passwords.

Over the years, privileged access management has evolved, and more strategies have been employed. These have given rise to more robust definitions of the PAM concept. PAM, in a nutshell, determines who accesses privileged accounts and what they are able to do when logged in.

How Does PAM Work?

From the definition above, one can tell that PAM combines three important factors: the technology and information to be protected, the processes required, and the people who access and manage the systems. This brings us to a very important question, “How does Privileged Access Management work?”

Firstly, you need to identify which accounts need and have privileged access. Once you identify these accounts, your next step is determining the policies your business will apply to them. An example of such policies is stating that all service accounts within your system renew their passwords when a user gains access to stored credentials. Another common example is making it mandatory for your system administrators to activate multi-factor authentication (MFA).

Now that you have identified the accounts that require and have privileged access and sorted out your policies, you are almost done. Your next step is to implement a solution that enforces and monitors Privileged Access Management.

An example we can recommend is BeyondTrust. These solutions automate your PAM policies and present your administrators with a platform that allows them to monitor and manage your privileged accounts effectively.

Why is PAM Important to Businesses Like Yours?

You are probably a business owner or leader in Africa and are wondering why your organisation needs to invest in Privileged Access Management. Let’s face it, with the high level of cybersecurity risks experienced by businesses daily, PAM security is non-negotiable. The truth is that having unmanaged or unprotected accounts in your organization places you, your stakeholders, and your entire framework at risk.

Sometimes, admins give system users unnecessary access just to save time or avoid conflicts. The problem is that when such users don’t have the required expertise to manage such accounts properly, they put the whole system at risk. Imagine one such user deleting an important file or making a mistake in typing a command. It will cause catastrophic damage to your whole organization.

Aside from the human error that may result from unhindered access, you also stand the risk of attack from disgruntled past employees. If such individuals retain access to your systems, they may access and control sensitive data, jeopardizing your whole business. Let’s not forget the issue of cybercriminals and hackers who are constantly on the prowl looking for ways to access sensitive information.

More businesses like yours in Africa are seeing the need to invest in Privileged Access Management Systems. Don’t be left behind, you should do the same.

Our Services

At Support Link Technologies, we can help you secure your business and keep operations running smoothly. Our services include IT Management and Security Services, Application Development, High-Level Resource Outsourcing, Help Desk Services, Training, and IT Managed Services. We also have affiliations with several cybersecurity and IT brands, including BeyondTrust. Each brand provides cost-efficient products and services that can be tailored to suit your brand’s specific needs.

Conclusion

Privileged Access Management, or PAM, may seem technical, but it is quite easy to understand. This post has presented you with a basic understanding of privileged access management for businesses. It has discussed what PAM is, how it works, and why it is important. At Support Link Technologies, we recommend BeyondTrust PAM.

Would you like to get started with this solution? Send us an email today at info@supportlinktech.com. You can also visit our website, supportlinktech.com, to find out more. For inquiries, fill out this form.