Access Management Solutions
Today, senior managers of organizations make special investments to increase the level of security and protection of their information assets and use various products and solutions. For example: network ports are equipped with all kinds of firewalls, IPS, WAF, UTM, etc. They even use security methods and standards, such as: PCI-DSS and ISO27001. But in the end, in order for the work of the organization to be completed, they are forced to hand over high-level access to the organization’s information systems, software, hardware, and servers to contractors or people who may be completely reliable. And do not trust them.
Statistics show that in large organizations, the risks and the impact of the damage these people cause to the group are very considerable. Regardless of what the cause and motive may be, or whether the events that occurred were intentional or accidental, the result and impact of many events are irreparable.
Therefore, a solution should be adopted that can cover this risk so that we can provide the resources of the organization to these users without trusting people blindly. This solution is known by the abbreviation PAM which means Privilege Access Manager. There are several powerful products that provide us with this risk and need, including CyberArk, WALLIX, Arcon PAM License, Beyond Trust and other products that are active in this field.
What Does a PAM Solution Must Have?
A strong PAM like CyberArk, WALLIX, Arcon PAM and Beyond Trust, has features that every PAM should have. Features listed below:
Review and reporting
By providing risk-based scorecards that show who has access to which effective PAM resources and solutions, you can save hours by gathering audit and compliance information.
In the event of an attack on a privileged account, a forensic investigation requires you to provide a complete picture. Only a few PAM solutions can give you a 360 ° view of when a privileged account password was withdrawn and by whom, as well as all actions taken by that account.
emergency access
Your solution should allow you to configure access controls and approval workflows for a “broken glass” scenario. In cases of absolute urgency, a user can set a flag in the system to indicate that a registry does not require approval. All such requests should be automatically approved, but still need to be reviewed, and you should determine in advance who can request such access, who is responsible for approval, and on which systems.
disaster recovery
PAM systems must have failover protections in place to ensure that no single point of failure can prevent critical access to the systems during a widespread system or network outage.
Real-time visibility and alert
When a threat is detected, preventive measures must be taken immediately. An effective PAM solution should allow you to create alerts and quickly resolve account usage discrepancies.
session management
A licensed PAM solution must configure sessions for each privileged user.
You should be able to record all privileged sessions, both command line and video, in a searchable and complete manner. This allows you to quickly demonstrate compliance with SOC2, SOX, PCI DSS 3.2, HIPAA, NERC CIP, ISO 27001 and more. Real-time session monitoring allows IT teams to view all sessions in real time. A real-time view of all privileged sessions means you can quickly end suspicious or unauthorized sessions.
Mobile hotspots
Mobile devices are becoming the common entry points to enterprise systems. PAM software integrated with a secure application launcher can grant access to remote devices.
Access for remote employees and third parties
Remote workers need access to the same systems and data as in the office.
Identities should be consolidated across all operating systems and environments, on-premises and in the cloud, so you know which people are associated with which accounts.
PAM software should provide third-party personnel with role-based access to systems without requiring domain credentials, thereby limiting access to privileged resources.
Password Manager
PAM tools allow you to automate and control the entire process of granting access and passwords to privileged accounts.
Whenever a privileged user requests access, a new password can be automatically generated by the PAM system to prevent password reuse or loss, while ensuring a match between current credentials and target systems.
Highly critical and sensitive credentials are only provided if an established policy is followed and all required approvals have been met.
PAM involves managing access rights based on roles and policies. Within your PAM solution, you can define a fixed number of parameters that control administrative access and limit access to specific functions and resources.
Multi-factor authentication
Even though there are multiple security protocols, there is still a chance that privileged accounts will be hacked. Your PAM software should add an extra layer of security with multi-factor authentication (MAP) protocols when a user requests access. OATH authentication and proprietary tokens can also be integrated as part of MAP.
Save the password
Any licensed PAM solution like Arcon PAM or Wallix, should prevent privileged users from knowing actual passwords for critical systems and resources. This way you can avoid any attempted manual transfer to a physical device. Instead of providing passwords to privileged users, the PAM solution should protect privileged credentials in a secure vault.
