IAM for Remote Work: Securing the Distributed Workforce

What is Privilege Access Management (PAM)?

PAM is a sub-field of cybersecurity addressing identity security solutions that protect organisations from cyber attacks by detecting, blocking, and securing unauthorized privileged access to sensitive assets.

The basic objective is to restrict access rights and permissions of accounts, applications, devices, and users in accordance with the employee’s role.Limiting the number of users provided with access can improve the system security.

PAM falls under the identity and access management (IAM). IAM provides authentication to ensure the user has the approved access entitlements, while PAM is an addition to the monitoring, control, and auditing of the privileged identities and session activities.

How does Privileged Access Management Work?

A PAM solution combines people, processes, and technology that require privileged access and specifies the policies that apply to them. Your solution must support features like automated password management and multifactor authentication. Additionally, administrators should be able to automate creating, maintaining, and deleting accounts. PAM is mostly applied for two purposes: blocking credential theft and compliance.

Credential theft occurs when an attacker steals login credentials and gains entry into a user’s account. After they log in, they can see organisational data, install malware on other machines, and access upper-level systems.

The standards and regulatory requirements that apply to your organisation are required to protect sensitive data like payment or personal health information. A PAM solution allows you to improve compliance by generating privileged user activity reports.

PAM also includes automating the user lifecycle, monitoring and recording privileged accounts, securing remote access, and controlling third-party access.

Some of the essential features a PAM solution should follow include:

Provide just-in-time access to critical resources

Enable secure remote access through encrypted gateways instead of passwords

Track and monitor privileged sessions to facilitate investigative audits

Detect and analyse unusual privileged activity that could pose risks to your organization

Session tracking after privileged access is granted

Produce detailed reports on privileged user access and activities

Enhance DevOps security with integrated password protection measures

What is CIAM?

- Operational: Can help you minimise customer support costs.
  Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) allows organisations to engage with customers in a digital way, including facilitating them to sign-up, sign-in and utilize digital services of an organisation. CIAM is the digital identity infrastructure found within customer-confronting applications which allows the management of their preference and control over privacy settings by users.
  CIAM covers the following key pillars:
  - Customer Experience: Focuses on building experiences and turning interactions into revenue.
  - Personalisation: CIAM can help you build targeted digital experiences.
  - Unified Brand Experience: This helps you reach out to customers and their shared information across different digital platforms.
CIAM solves key problems like:
1. Secure authentication and access control.
2. Ensuring user privacy and regulatory compliance (e.g., GDPR).
3. Delivering seamless, cross-platform user experiences (e.g., SSO).
4. Scaling to handle large user volumes.
5. Preventing fraud with advanced security measures.
6. Centralizing customer data for better insights.
7. Enabling self-service account management.

Is IAM Important for Cloud Computing?

Data in cloud computing is kept off-site and accessed via the Internet, and most cloud services are therefore device- and location-independent. Users can sign on from anywhere via any device without having to be in the office or on company-controlled equipment. This has created remote workforces as an increasing trend.
Consequently, identity has become the primary control point for access, replacing the traditional network perimeter. A user’s identity, rather than their device or location, now dictates what cloud data they can access and whether they are granted access.
IAM is frequently a cloud-based service that users must go through to access an organization’s broader cloud infrastructure. It can also be deployed on-premises within an internal network.
Organizations with hybrid or multi-cloud setups can opt for a dedicated IAM vendor.
Being insulated from other public or private cloud offerings provides greater flexibility and customization options.

Types of Privileged Accounts

Privileged accounts are highly sensitive accounts that provide elevated access and permissions within an organization’s IT environment. Here are the main types of privileged accounts:
- Privileged User Accounts
Regular user accounts that have been granted temporary or permanent elevated privileges for specific tasks.
- Database Administrator (DBA) Accounts
Provide full control over databases, including the ability to modify schemas, access sensitive data, and manage user permissions.
- Domain Adminisitrator Accounts
Grant privileges across an entire Windows domain, including the ability to manage user accounts, security policies, and domain controllers.
- Shared Accounts
When certain accounts are used by multiple users, often for administrative purposes, ensure accountability and auditing.
- SSH Keys
Provide secure, password-less access to systems and are often used for automated processes or remote administration.

PAM Solutions

Partner up with Cyberdisti, your trusted cybersecurity solution provider in India, MEA, and Africa, to strengthen your digital infrastructure with cutting-edge Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions. Safeguard your critical data, secure privileged accounts, and build robust resilience against evolving cyber threats.