Understanding Privileged Access Management

Businesses have evolved to use an increasingly distributed workforce, relying on contractors and third-party vendors to handle part of their workload, which makes secure access ever more challenging. Fortunately, privileged access management (PAM) allows us to establish a more streamlined workflow to improve productivity.

PAM involves creating and managing privileged accounts within an IT environment. Privileged accounts have greater access or more permissions than those of a standard user. The use of privileged accounts aims to keep workers focused on their work, prevent others from tampering with that work, and minimize the likelihood of problems caused by misuse of privileges.

The value of privileged access management

As businesses grow, they accumulate more applications, services, and accounts. It’s important to have a solid plan for managing privileges and passwords before they become too complex for the IT department to handle manually.

Privileged access management is an essential part of maintaining a secure IT environment. It involves providing elevated privileges to individuals only when those privileges are explicitly required for the individual’s role or position. This reduces the possibility that a compromised account could be used by a malicious attacker or insider.

Zero trust network access, along with other capabilities, enhances security by allowing organizations to effectively manage user access and permissions, particularly in environments with remote work.

The most critical part of PAM is managing access privileges to encourage organization, accountability, and ease of navigation.

Example: It’s common for employees to access systems that don’t directly pertain to their job function or department. To increase security for these systems, PAM grants employees access only to the resources they require to do their jobs, and nothing more.

In addition to increasing security, this makes things easier for employees by reducing the likelihood of a security breach, streamlining access to needed resources, reducing the chances of human error, and making clear what resources they are — or aren’t — expected to use.

Reducing the risk associated with privileged account abuse also reduces the likelihood of data confidentiality, integrity, and availability issues arising.

To better understand PAM, we will take a detailed look at the major components of PAM and learn how we can best implement PAM processes.

First, we need to understand what permissions and privileges mean.

What are privileges and permissions?

Privileged users have an increased ability to make changes to a system. Examples of privileges given to specific users include:

• Configuring systems or apps (including creating, adding, and removing user accounts)
• Maintaining databases, workstations, and servers
• Managing domain controllers

Privileged users can also load device drivers and configure cloud instances and accounts.

A VPN client plays a crucial role in establishing secure connections to remote networks or servers, enabling encrypted tunnels for secure data transmission. This is particularly important for remote work and protecting sensitive information while accessing company resources.

Privileged users often have different levels of privilege, which means that not everyone has the same amount of access.

Example: Users of domain administrative accounts have the highest levels of access and are the keepers of the keys to the IT kingdom. They have absolute authority over domain controllers. The power to change the membership of an administrative account in the domain is in their hands.

Privileged accounts need to be powerful so their users have sufficient access to perform their tasks, but the privileges can be dangerous if abused. Misuse of permissions, whether accidentally, intentionally, or maliciously, can lead to downtime, loss of sensitive data, negative publicity, and compliance failures.

Properly approving, controlling, decommissioning, and monitoring privileged accounts throughout their lifecycle is a standard IT governance practice. It ensures that privileged accounts are not misused within an organization. In addition to the standard IT governance, organizations may choose to run criminal or background checks on privileged users to help ensure the safety and security of their data, systems, and processes.

What is privileged account management?

Privileged account management protects the security system from deliberate or accidental misuse of privileged accounts. The process uses policy-based strategies and software to restrict access to sensitive data and systems. Privileged accounts have high levels of access to data, devices, and systems, and can perform tasks that users with standard accounts cannot, such as:

• Deleting data
• Upgrading operating systems
• Modifying application configurations
• Installing or uninstalling software

Managing privileged accounts involves securely storing privileged identities such as SSH keys and credentials. You can use a standardized encryption algorithm like AES-256 to secure privileged identities.

To protect privileged accounts from security breaches, you should audit privileged user logins, password sharing, password resets, and other identity-related operations.

PAM best security practice: Enforce policies requiring users to adopt complex passwords, utilize strong SSH key pairs, and auto-rotate passwords.

DNS leak protection is crucial in preventing unauthorized access and ensuring online privacy by securely masking users' public IP addresses.

Managing privileged accounts is more important now than ever before, especially with the increase in remote working and the adoption of the internet of things (IoT) and cloud environments. Controlling access to privileged accounts requires more than just using a strong password. Organizations need to depend on more structured means of access management, such as multi-factor authentication.

What is privileged session management?

Granting privileged users uncontrolled access to an organization’s critical systems creates a security loophole. A secure IT infrastructure involves more than controlling what permissions privileged users are granted — it also includes monitoring what these users do during their active privileged access sessions and terminating inappropriate activities.

A reliable VPN connection is crucial for securing remote access and protecting company resources, ensuring that data remains encrypted and private even on untrusted WiFi networks.

Privileged session management (PSM) acts as an additional security layer to regulate privileged access to an organization’s critical systems by monitoring the sessions of privileged users. This includes recording sessions of privileged users and continually monitoring and auditing the activities of users, applications, systems, and third-party contractors.

By recording and monitoring the activities of every privileged user from the time they start to the time they end a session, you can proactively recognize a compromised account. With the ability to view active connections, you can notify or terminate unauthorized or suspicious connections in real time.

Implementing privileged access management

How you implement the PAM program is one determining factor in its success in protecting the organization from malicious actors, both internal and external. You need to create a concrete plan that guides this implementation.

Selecting a reliable VPN provider is crucial for ensuring robust privacy features and encryption standards, which are essential for secure access and data protection.

How to implement PAM

1. Identify what permissions you need to assign to the privileged accounts.

Example: You may want privileged users to access sensitive company data, install or update security patches, create or modify user accounts, and configure or otherwise make changes to systems.

2. Determine who needs access to what systems, as well as how much access is required and when it’s required.

Example: This access should be in line with the user’s role in the organization’s IT infrastructure, so you’ll need to determine which groups and users will be granted administrative privileges within each system or application.

3. Give the accounts access to specific systems.

4. Monitor and audit the activities of privileged users for accountability. Tracking and logging privileged sessions is one way to increase accountability. Keeping a detailed log of all privileged sessions will enable you to identify any system anomalies.

The principle of least privilege in zero trust network access

PAM is founded on the principle of least privilege (PoLP). Following PoLP, each privileged user, workload, network, or device has access to only the systems and the level of resources they need to execute assigned tasks. If workers are given only those privileges they need to complete a task, there will be fewer distractions and opportunities for external interference.

Unlimited simultaneous connections support multiple devices securely in a remote work environment, enhancing security for employees and providing a cost-effective solution for organizations.

PoLP minimizes the attack surface in case of a malware attack. Since users have limited rights, even if the account is compromised, there’s a limit to the damage that can be done. For example, when most accounts don’t have installation rights, even a compromised account can’t become a vector for malware.

You can implement PoLP to allow users access to an application for a predetermined period of time. This is interlinked with the just-in-time (JIT) privileged access model. JIT access provisioning allows you to grant privileged users limited, on-demand access to IT resources and eliminates the risks of standing privileges. Remote workers, third parties, developers, and service accounts need JIT access.

Role-based access control (RBAC), which assigns permissions to roles rather than individuals, can help implement PoLP. Assuming a case where each employee is only assigned a single role in an organization, a marketing analyst, for instance, would have access to marketing lists. But if that employee moves to the finance department as a financial analyst, they would lose access to marketing data. The analyst now requires access to financial reports to enable them to do their job.

Automating privilege management with secure access

Privileged access management involves many potential steps. Managing PAM processes manually is an intensive, error-prone process of controlling privilege risk, so it's important to automate as much of the process as possible. Once PAM processes are configured, software automation can take over privilege management.

You can rely on automated privileged access management solutions to eliminate manual management and monitoring of privileged accounts, and to streamline workflows by reducing administrative complexity. These tools can scale across millions of privileged users and accounts to improve IT infrastructure security.

Automation also allows you to audit the usage of privileged accounts in real time and detect suspicious activity. You're also able to automate the lifecycle of privileges, from password generation to disposal and replacement, so you don't have to worry about manually resetting passwords when administrators leave an organization or change roles. The privileged access lifecycle involves streamlining user provisioning and de-provisioning, managing access, and verifying the actions of privileged users.

Secure Remote Access

Secure remote access is a cornerstone of modern remote and hybrid workforces, enabling employees to connect to corporate networks and third-party cloud services securely from any location. A remote access VPN is a widely adopted solution for achieving secure remote access. It establishes an encrypted tunnel between the user’s device and the remote network, ensuring that all data transmitted is protected from unauthorized access.

When selecting a remote access VPN, consider the following factors to ensure robust security and performance:

• Security protocols: Opt for a VPN that supports secure protocols such as OpenVPN, IKEv2, and WireGuard. These protocols are known for their strong security features and reliability.
• Encryption: Ensure the VPN uses robust encryption algorithms like AES-256. This level of encryption is highly secure and widely trusted in the industry.
• Server locations: Choose a VPN with a large number of servers distributed globally. This not only improves connection speeds but also provides more options for bypassing geo-restrictions.
• Logging policy: Select a VPN with a strict no-logs policy to ensure that your data is not stored or shared with third parties. This is crucial for maintaining privacy and compliance with data protection regulations.

By considering these factors, you can ensure that your remote access VPN provides secure, reliable, and compliant access to your corporate network and third-party cloud services.

Compliance and Regulations

When implementing a remote access VPN, it’s essential to consider compliance and regulatory requirements to ensure your solution meets industry standards. Here are key areas to focus on:

• Data protection: Ensure your VPN solution complies with data protection regulations such as GDPR and HIPAA. This involves safeguarding personal data and ensuring privacy.
• Network security: Your VPN should meet network security standards like PCI-DSS and NIST. These standards help protect sensitive information and maintain the integrity of your network.
• Logging policy: A strict no-logs policy is crucial for compliance with data protection regulations. This ensures that user data is not stored or shared, maintaining privacy and security.

By adhering to these compliance and regulatory requirements, you can ensure that your remote access VPN solution not only provides secure access but also aligns with legal and industry standards.

Monitoring and Analytics

Monitoring and analytics are critical components of an effective remote access VPN solution. These features help ensure the security and performance of your network. Key features to look for include:

• Real-time monitoring: This allows you to keep an eye on VPN connections and network activity as they happen, enabling quick responses to any issues.
• Audit logs: These logs track user activity and network changes, providing a detailed record that can be used for troubleshooting and compliance purposes.
• Analytics: Comprehensive analytics help you optimize your network and improve performance by providing insights into usage patterns and potential bottlenecks.

By incorporating these features, you can ensure that your remote access VPN solution provides secure, reliable, and compliant access to your corporate network and third-party cloud services.

How Tailscale can Help

Tailscale is a leading solution for secure networking, enabling seamless point-to-point connectivity between devices. It leverages WireGuard, a modern VPN protocol known for its simplicity and high performance, to establish secure connections. Tailscale provides granular access control, which eliminates single points of failure and enhances network security.

Ideal for remote work and hybrid teams, Tailscale facilitates secure remote access to users, services, and devices. It supports site-to-site networking without the need to open firewall ports, making it straightforward to connect clouds, VPCs, and on-premises networks. This flexibility and ease of use make Tailscale a powerful tool for maintaining secure and efficient network operations.

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