PIM And PAM Security: Understanding the Difference
Almost every association utilizes identity and access management (IAM) to keep their systems secure. IAM helps companies manage user identities, verify who they are, and control what resources they can use. Privileged identity management (PIM) and privileged access management (PAM) are special parts of IAM. PIM and PAM focus on managing access to the company’s most important resources, like servers, databases, applications, and Kubernetes collections. They follow the rule of least privilege, meaning they limit access to only those who really need it, reducing the number of people who can access sensitive systems and data.
Privileged identity management (PIM) helps organizations manage and protect important user accounts that have special access to critical systems. PIM makes sure these powerful accounts are used securely. Privileged identities are the details and credentials of accounts with special permissions. These accounts can access and control important systems, sensitive information, and key resources. Managing these identities is vital to keep an organization’s infrastructure safe.
The main goal of PIM is to set up strong rules and processes for handling these special accounts. This includes creating and removing privileged accounts, managing passwords, handling access requests and approvals, monitoring sessions, and ensuring that users have only the access they need. By using PIM effectively, organizations can reduce the risks of unauthorized access, insider threats, and stolen privileged credentials.
Privileged access management (PAM) is about securing and managing special user accounts within an organization. PAM tools help protect these accounts and make sure only authorized people can use them. The main goal of PAM is to keep privileged accounts safe from unauthorized use. This includes using strong security measures like multi-factor authentication, monitoring sessions, and setting access control policies. PAM ensures that privileged access is given only when needed and for a short time.
By centralizing the management of secret accounts, PAM helps organizations lower the risk of credential theft, insider dangers, and unauthorized access to vital systems and data. PAM tools usually include features like finding secret accounts, managing passwords, recording sessions, and analyzing session activities to improve security and accountability.
Instead of comparing PIM and PAM, it’s better to see how they work together. Many PAM tools already support PIM policies.
PIM and PAM security starts by choosing the right tools to manage resources and user identities in your organization. A PIM and PAM solution connects to a user directory, which has all the users, their permissions, and their encrypted credentials, to a resource management platform. These solutions often let users log in with a single sign-on to access resources through a secure gateway.
The secure gateway checks if the user has permission to access the requested resource and allows the authenticated user to use it, recording every interaction. If the user doesn’t have the right permissions, admins can provide temporary credentials through the PAM solution. By limiting the number of users with constant access to resources, companies can reduce the risk of a security breach.
PIM
PIM pays attention to protecting the identities related to secret accounts. It is like protecting the actual solutions to the vault. Here is how PIM supports –
PAM
PAM pays attention to protecting the secret access itself, like adding high-tech locks to the vault doors. Below are the ways to strengthen protection –
Both PIM and PAM are vital for protecting an organization’s most essential resources. PIM confirms that secret accounts are properly handled and secured, while PAM confirms that access to these accounts is tightly regulated and observed. Together, they help protect against unauthorized access, insider dangers, and possible violations, making sure the overall safety of the organization’s infrastructure.
Also Read : SASE: The Next Step in Network Security Evolution