Every enterprise or organization has privileged users, accounts, employees, or even customers. These privileged commodities have authorized access to sensitive resources and critical applications. Giving privileged access to users can often put your cybersecurity at peril.
It is often due to unintentional negligence of the privileged user or the company’s poor PAM ( privileged access management). Notably, a slight issue in devising the PAM policy may result in a devastating data breach.
This article will discuss the five most common PAM (privileged access management) mistakes, and the best possible solution to strengthen your enterprise’s identity and access management.
Granting Privileged Access to Everyone
Granting privileged access to everybody is a major PAM mistake. It is vital to note that privileged access is labeled as ‘privileged’ for a reason and entails access to selected accounts.
Provision of privileged access to non-verified or almost everybody can abruptly damage the enterprise’s cybersecurity. Instead, enterprises should only provide privileged access to authorized accounts needing access to perform day-to-day duties.
The main reason behind this common PAM mistake is any enterprise’s poor privilege access policy. For instance,
- Enterprises assign the same set of access rights to all the privileged accounts.
- Instead of giving one-time user access, the enterprise gives default access to sensitive resources.
- Enterprise grants default privileged access to third-party vendors and forget to revoke accesses.
Failing to Discover All Privileged Accounts
One of the most common privileged access management mistakes is failing to discover unprivileged accounts. It is common because most enterprises do not even bother to check on privileged access accounts in their networks.
Around 40 percent of enterprises do not check the connected privileged accounts. In addition, studies tell that three-fourths of enterprises fail to discover the privileged accounts connecting to their networks. Eventually, this slight negligence may abruptly damage the cybersecurity of any enterprise.
The main contributing factor to this PAM mistake is the visibility or identification of accessed accounts. And the most feasible solution to this problem is the integration of your networks with other targeted identity management solutions like Cherry PAM.
Antivirus Supremacy
Many enterprises fail to understand that the era of believing in antivirus has already passed. It is now the time to embrace the era of identity in which PAM is undoubtedly leading the charge.
However, unfortunately, many enterprises still think the legacy of antivirus solutions can still protect their cybersecurity in the present era of technology. Having such assumptions is another common PAM mistake.
It is time to understand that antivirus alone cannot offer enough protection to the login portal connected to your enterprise. In fact, they cannot even fortify your digital perimeter properly since they cannot handle your identity management.
In addition, it is also crucial to decipher that your identity security defines your digital perimeter, and PAM is its main component.
Using an Overcomplicated PAM Policy
Another common mistake seen in privileged access management is the unnecessary complexity of PAM policy. Many enterprises put their cybersecurity at peril by over-complicating it. This mistake is common in large organizations with multiple layers of privileged access and plenty of sensitive resources.
It is vital to note that complicated procedures to protect your cybersecurity count in poor privileged access management. If your company is also over-complicating its PAM policy, it is high time to reconsider its cybersecurity policies. Otherwise, the risk of shadow IT may lurk in your enterprise.
Becoming Overconfident in Your PAM
Like overcomplicating, becoming overconfident about your PAM policy can also put your cybersecurity at risk. There must be a balance while devising your privileged access management policy.
Taking your cybersecurity for granted is more like a sin, as it can cause real damage to your sensitive resources. It is due to the constant evolution in the threat landscape and cybersecurity modules that have provided plenty of ways to attack privileged credentials.
The best solution to this mistake is updating your PAM policy by deploying the latest identity
The Final Take
To conclude, PAM (privileged access management) is crucial to determine or safeguard your enterprise’s cybersecurity. The article has already identified the five most common mistakes that can cause damage to your cybersecurity.
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