Glossary
PAM
Admin accounts are the keys to the kingdom. PAM locks those keys in a vault, logs every time they're used, and records what admins do. If an admin account gets hacked, you'll know exactly what happened.
What is PAM?
Privileged Access Management - controls and monitors access to critical systems by users with elevated privileges like administrators.
Why Should You Care?
Compromised admin credentials are the fastest path to complete system compromise—attackers don't need to exploit vulnerabilities in individual applications if they can directly access the infrastructure. PAM limits lateral movement by ensuring no single admin account holds unnecessary standing privileges and by monitoring and brokering privileged sessions, limiting what an attacker can do even with stolen credentials. Without PAM, a breach of one administrator's password can lead to data exfiltration, ransomware deployment, or permanent infrastructure damage across the entire organization.
Is your business exposed?
Real-World Example
When SolarWinds Orion was compromised in 2020, attackers leveraged elevated access to move across customer networks, and organizations lacking strong privileged-access controls had little visibility into which admin accounts were touching which systems. Organizations using PAM solutions were better positioned to detect and contain such activity because privileged sessions were brokered, logged, and flagged in real time, whereas those without PAM had no clear record of which admin accounts accessed what, or when.
How to Protect Against PAM
- 1.
Inventory all privileged accounts
- 2.
Implement PAM solution
Related Terms
Is your business exposed?
Check if your company data is circulating on the dark web
Free scan • No credit card required