Delinea’s **Privileged Access Management (PAM)** solutions offer robust security for managing privileged accounts, ensuring that organizations can protect their critical assets from insider threats, external attacks, and misuse of privileges. Implementing **best practices** for PAM is essential to maximizing security, maintaining compliance, and ensuring operational efficiency. Here are 12 key PAM best practices, all of which are effectively addressed by Delinea’s solutions.
The first step in a successful PAM strategy is to **discover and inventory** all privileged accounts, including human, non-human, service, and application accounts. Delinea provides automated tools to continuously discover and track these accounts across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments. This ensures that no privileged accounts are left unmanaged, reducing the risk of forgotten or orphaned accounts being exploited by attackers.
Delinea’s platform enables organizations to implement and enforce the **principle of least privilege**, ensuring that users only have access to the resources necessary for their roles. By configuring **Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)** and using **Just-in-Time (JIT) access**, Delinea ensures that privileges are dynamically assigned and revoked when no longer needed, reducing the risk of privilege abuse or escalation.
Enforcing **Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)** is essential for securing privileged accounts. Delinea integrates MFA into its PAM platform, requiring users to provide multiple forms of authentication before accessing critical systems. This reduces the risk of credential theft or unauthorized access by ensuring that even if passwords are compromised, attackers cannot gain access without additional verification.
Delinea helps organizations secure privileged credentials by storing them in an **encrypted password vault**, ensuring they are only accessible by authorized users. The platform also supports **automatic password rotation**, ensuring that privileged passwords are regularly changed and never reused. This minimizes the risk of credential theft and complies with regulatory requirements for secure password management.
One of the most critical best practices in PAM is the ability to **monitor and audit privileged sessions**. Delinea’s PAM platform provides real-time session monitoring and **privileged session recording**, allowing organizations to track every action performed by privileged users. Detailed audit logs ensure that all activities are captured, providing visibility into user behavior and helping to meet compliance and security standards.
**Just-in-Time (JIT) access** ensures that users only receive elevated privileges when necessary and only for the duration of the task. Delinea’s JIT access features reduce the risk of standing privileges, which can be exploited by attackers or misused by insiders. Once the task is completed, privileges are automatically revoked, limiting the window of opportunity for misuse.
**Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)** is another core best practice that Delinea enables. By defining user roles and assigning privileges based on these roles, organizations can ensure that users only have access to the systems and data relevant to their job function. RBAC simplifies the management of privileges and reduces the risk of over-permissioned accounts, helping to enforce least privilege.
With the rise of remote work, securing **remote access** to privileged accounts is essential. Delinea’s **Privileged Remote Access (PRA)** solution provides secure, monitored access to critical systems for remote employees and third-party vendors. PRA enforces **MFA**, **session monitoring**, and **real-time auditing**, ensuring that all remote activities are secure and tracked, helping organizations comply with security policies and standards.
Regularly reviewing and auditing privileged accounts is a key best practice to prevent privilege creep and misuse. Delinea automates the process of **privileged access reviews**, ensuring that all accounts are regularly assessed to confirm they are still needed. Dormant accounts can be flagged and deactivated, reducing the risk of unused accounts being exploited by attackers.
Delinea’s PAM solution integrates with other security tools such as **Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)**, **Identity and Access Management (IAM)** platforms, and **endpoint security solutions**. This integration enables organizations to create a unified security ecosystem, improving visibility and enabling faster incident detection and response. Integrating PAM with SIEM, for example, allows for the centralized monitoring of all privileged activities.
Delinea helps organizations ensure compliance with regulatory standards such as **GDPR**, **HIPAA**, and **PCI DSS** by providing comprehensive audit trails, reporting, and secure access controls. By following best practices like enforcing least privilege, securing credentials, and monitoring privileged activities, organizations can meet compliance requirements and avoid costly fines or penalties.
Delinea’s PAM solutions provide organizations with the tools and capabilities needed to implement **best practices** in managing privileged access. From enforcing least privilege and automating password rotation to securing remote access and monitoring privileged sessions, Delinea ensures that organizations can protect their most sensitive accounts while maintaining compliance and reducing risk. By integrating these best practices into a single, scalable platform, Delinea helps organizations build a strong foundation for cybersecurity success.
Continuous Verification: Implement a zero-trust model that requires continuous verification of all users and devices, regardless of their location within or outside the network.
Least Privilege Principle: Ensure that users have the minimum level of access necessary to perform their job functions, reducing the risk of misuse.
Enhanced Security: Use MFA to add an extra layer of security, ensuring that access to privileged accounts requires multiple forms of verification.
Contextual Authentication: Leverage adaptive MFA that considers the context of the access request, such as location, device, and time, to further enhance security.
Automated Rotation: Use PAM tools that automate the regular rotation of passwords and credentials to minimize the risk of credential theft and misuse.
Secure Storage: Store all privileged credentials in a secure, centralized vault to prevent unauthorized access.
Real-Time Monitoring: Implement real-time monitoring and recording of all privileged sessions to detect and respond to suspicious activities immediately.
Audit Trails: Maintain detailed audit trails and logs of all privileged access activities to ensure accountability and support compliance efforts.
Granular Control: Use RBAC to provide granular access control, ensuring that users can only access the resources necessary for their roles.
Dynamic Assignment: Regularly review and update roles and permissions based on changes in job functions and responsibilities.
Vulnerability Assessments: Perform regular security assessments to identify and mitigate potential vulnerabilities in your PAM implementation.
Compliance Audits: Conduct periodic compliance audits to ensure adherence to regulatory requirements and industry standards.
VPN and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA): Use secure remote access solutions such as VPNs or ZTNA to provide a secure connection for remote users.
Secure Remote Access Tools: Implement tools designed for secure remote access that include features like session monitoring, encryption, and endpoint security.
Endpoint Protection: Ensure that all remote endpoints (laptops, mobile devices, etc.) have up-to-date security software, including antivirus, anti-malware, and firewalls.
Device Management: Use mobile device management (MDM) solutions to enforce security policies and manage device configurations.
Patch Management: Implement a robust patch management process to ensure that all systems and software are regularly updated to protect against known vulnerabilities.
Automatic Updates: Configure systems to automatically apply critical updates and patches to minimize the risk of exploitation.
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Require MFA for all remote privileged access to add an extra layer of security.
Biometric Authentication: Consider using biometric authentication methods (fingerprint, facial recognition) for enhanced security.
Real-Time Monitoring: Monitor remote access sessions in real-time to detect and respond to any suspicious activities immediately.
Session Recording: Record all remote privileged sessions to ensure accountability and facilitate forensic analysis if needed.
Security Awareness Training: Provide regular training on security best practices and the importance of protecting privileged access.
Phishing Awareness: Educate employees about the risks of phishing attacks and how to recognize and respond to suspicious emails.
Encrypted Communication: Use encrypted communication tools for remote collaboration to ensure that sensitive information is protected during transmission.
Access Controls: Configure access controls for collaboration tools to restrict access to sensitive information based on user roles and responsibilities.
