Privileged Access Management Tools: CyberArk, BeyondTrust, and More

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Privileged accounts, those with administrative access to servers, databases, network devices, and cloud infrastructure, are the most valuable targets for attackers. A compromised standard user account provides access to that individual data and applications. A compromised privileged account provides access to the entire infrastructure. Privileged access management tools secure these high-value accounts through credential vaulting, session monitoring, just-in-time access, and automated credential rotation, dramatically reducing the risk that privileged credentials are stolen, misused, or exploited.

Why Privileged Accounts Are Targeted

Attackers specifically hunt for privileged credentials during intrusions because they provide the broadest access with the fewest steps. A domain administrator password grants control over every system joined to the domain. A cloud infrastructure root account controls every resource in the cloud environment. Database administrator credentials expose every record in every database.

Phishing attacks frequently target IT administrators and executives specifically because their accounts have elevated privileges. A successful spear phishing email to a system administrator who reuses their domain admin password for a personal account gives the attacker keys to the entire kingdom. Understanding how these targeted attacks work is covered in our article on Spear Phishing Explained.

Many organizations store privileged passwords in spreadsheets, shared documents, or sticky notes. Privileged credentials are often shared among team members, rarely rotated, and used interactively for daily work rather than reserved for administrative tasks. PAM tools address all of these practices by providing a secure, auditable, and automated approach to privileged credential management.

Core PAM Capabilities

Credential vaulting stores privileged passwords in an encrypted vault rather than in documents, configuration files, or individual memory. When an administrator needs to access a system, they check out the credential from the vault, which logs who accessed it and when. Vaulting ensures that privileged passwords are never stored in insecure locations and that every use is tracked.

Automated credential rotation changes privileged passwords on a schedule or after every use. This eliminates the risk of stale passwords that may have been compromised without detection. If an attacker obtains a privileged password, rotation limits the window during which it remains valid.

Session recording captures video and keystroke logs of privileged sessions, creating a complete audit trail of administrative activity. This capability supports incident investigation, compliance requirements, and detection of insider threats. If a privileged session results in unauthorized changes, the recording provides forensic evidence of exactly what happened.

Just-in-time access grants privileged credentials only when needed and only for a limited duration. Rather than administrators maintaining persistent access to privileged accounts, they request access through the PAM platform, which grants time-limited credentials that are automatically revoked after the approved window expires. This reduces the standing privilege footprint that attackers can exploit.

Leading PAM Solutions

CyberArk is the most established PAM vendor and the market leader in enterprise privileged access management. Its Privileged Access Security Solution provides credential vaulting, session management, threat analytics, and application credential management. CyberArk Endpoint Privilege Manager removes standing administrative rights from workstations and servers, granting elevation only when needed for specific tasks. The platform integrates with identity providers, SIEM systems, and IT service management tools.

BeyondTrust provides PAM through its Privileged Remote Access, Password Safe, and Endpoint Privilege Management products. Privileged Remote Access provides secure remote access for IT support and vendor access without requiring VPN connections. Password Safe discovers, manages, and rotates privileged passwords across the infrastructure. Endpoint Privilege Management removes admin rights from endpoints while allowing approved elevation for specific applications and tasks.

Delinea (formerly Thycotic and Centrify) offers Secret Server for credential vaulting and privilege management with a focus on ease of deployment. Secret Server provides a more accessible entry point to PAM than some enterprise competitors, making it popular with mid-market organizations. Delinea also provides Privilege Manager for endpoint privilege management and Server Suite for Unix/Linux privilege management.

HashiCorp Vault, while primarily a secrets management tool, provides PAM capabilities for dynamic and cloud-native environments. Vault generates short-lived credentials on demand for databases, cloud platforms, SSH access, and other systems. This dynamic approach eliminates stored credentials entirely, instead providing temporary credentials that expire automatically.

Implementation Strategy

Prioritize discovery first. Before implementing PAM controls, you need to know where privileged accounts exist. PAM platforms include discovery capabilities that scan Active Directory, databases, cloud environments, and network devices to identify privileged accounts, including orphaned and unknown accounts that may have been forgotten.

Start with the most critical systems. Domain controllers, cloud management consoles, database servers, and network infrastructure devices contain the most valuable targets for attackers. Vault these credentials first and extend PAM coverage to additional systems over time.

Remove standing administrative rights from workstations and laptops. Most users do not need local admin rights for daily work. Endpoint privilege management tools allow approved elevation for specific tasks while maintaining a standard user baseline.

Integrate PAM with your identity management and incident response workflows. PAM alerts about unusual credential access or session activity should trigger investigation through your security operations processes.

Organizational Challenges

PAM implementation changes how administrators work, and resistance is common. Administrators accustomed to knowing and directly using privileged passwords may view the vault-and-checkout process as an inconvenience. Executive sponsorship, clear communication about the security rationale, and a phased rollout that addresses workflow concerns help overcome resistance. The most successful PAM deployments frame the change as protecting administrators from being blamed for breaches that exploit credentials they never had direct access to.