What Is Privileged Access Management (PAM)? How to Protect Admin Accounts

When attackers break into a company, their first goal usually isn’t the data. It’s an admin account. With administrator rights, they can turn off security tools, create new accounts, move across the network and deploy ransomware to every machine at once.

That’s why privileged access management, or PAM, has become a core part of security programs. It’s the discipline of controlling who has “keys to the kingdom,” when they can use them and what they do with them.

This guide explains what counts as privileged access, why admin accounts are such prime targets and how to control them, whether you’re a 20-person business or a larger enterprise.

What privileged access management means

Privileged access management (PAM) is a combination of policies, processes and technology that secures accounts with high-level permissions. NIST defines a privileged account simply as a system account with the authorizations of a privileged user, meaning someone authorized to perform security-relevant functions that ordinary users can’t.

PAM typically does 4 things:

1. Limits the number of privileged accounts and what each can do.
2. Controls when and how those privileges are used, often granting them only for a short time.
3. Protects the credentials, through vaulting, rotation and strong authentication.
4. Monitors and records privileged activity so it can be audited and investigated.

PAM is a specialized part of identity and access management (IAM). IAM covers everyone’s access; PAM focuses on the small set of accounts that could do the most damage.

What counts as a privileged account

Privileged accounts are more common than most teams realize. They include:

Why admin accounts are prime targets

In October 2023, the NSA and CISA published a joint advisory on the 10 most common network misconfigurations they find in assessments. Several relate directly to privileged access:

• Improper separation of user and administrator privilege. Admins often use one account for both daily work and admin tasks, and accounts accumulate excessive permissions over time through “privilege creep.”
• High service account permissions. Service accounts often have high privileges, and attackers use techniques such as Kerberoasting to crack their credentials.
• Non-essential use of admin accounts. Using an admin account to read email or browse the web exposes it to theft from a compromised machine.
• Poor credential hygiene and weak MFA. Reused or easily cracked passwords and weak multi-factor methods make privileged accounts easier to take over.

The advisory notes that attackers actively search for privileged accounts and where they’re used. Once they have one, they can often move through a network quickly without triggering alerts. That’s also why ransomware groups prize admin access: it lets them spread encryption everywhere at once. See our guide to ransomware protection for small businesses.

Key takeaway: Every standing admin account is an opportunity for an attacker. The goal of PAM is fewer admin accounts, with fewer permissions, used for less time, with every use protected and recorded.

Core PAM capabilities

Most PAM programs, whether built with dedicated tools or native platform features, include these capabilities.

Credential vaulting and rotation

Admin passwords and keys are stored in an encrypted vault rather than in spreadsheets or people’s heads. The vault can rotate passwords automatically, so a stolen password soon stops working. For Windows local admin accounts, Microsoft’s built-in Windows LAPS feature rotates and backs up each device’s local admin password, which Microsoft says helps protect against pass-the-hash and lateral-movement attacks.

Just-in-time (JIT) access

Instead of permanent admin rights, people request admin access when they need it, for a set time. NSA and CISA recommend provisioning privileged access only when needed, with automatic expiration. Cloud platforms offer this natively; for example, Microsoft Entra Privileged Identity Management provides time-bound role activation that can require approval, MFA and a justification.

Strong authentication

Privileged accounts should always require MFA, ideally phishing-resistant methods such as FIDO2 security keys or passkeys. See our guide to multi-factor authentication.

Session monitoring and recording

PAM tools can broker admin sessions, record what happens and alert on risky commands. Logs should flow to your security monitoring tools, such as a SIEM.

Access reviews and discovery

Regular reviews confirm that people still need their privileges. Discovery tools find unknown admin accounts, service accounts and embedded secrets.

Dedicated PAM tools vs built-in features

You don’t always need an enterprise PAM platform to get started. Here’s how the options compare.

Pricing for dedicated PAM tools varies widely and is usually per user, per privileged account or per managed system, often with separate costs for implementation. Get quotes based on your actual number of admins and systems. If you’re choosing a vault for a small team, our guide on how to choose a business password manager is a good starting point.

How to start controlling privileged access

Here’s a practical sequence that works even without a dedicated PAM product.

1. Inventory privileged accounts. List every admin account across your domain, cloud, SaaS apps, servers and network devices, plus service accounts and API keys.
2. Remove what isn’t needed. Delete stale accounts and strip unnecessary admin rights. Apply the principle of least privilege.
3. Separate admin and daily accounts. Admins should use a standard account for email and browsing, and a separate admin account only for admin work.
4. Require phishing-resistant MFA on every privileged account.
5. Vault and rotate credentials. Move shared admin passwords into a vault and turn on Windows LAPS for local admin accounts.
6. Turn on just-in-time access where your platforms support it, starting with your most powerful roles.
7. Lock down service accounts. Give them only the permissions they need, run services as non-admin where possible and rotate their credentials.
8. Control vendor access. Grant third parties time-limited access, require MFA and log their sessions.
9. Log and review. Send privileged activity logs to a central location and review access quarterly.
10. Protect break-glass accounts. Keep 1 or 2 emergency accounts with strong credentials stored securely, and alert whenever they’re used.

These steps line up with the account and access safeguards in CIS Controls Implementation Group 1, and they’re a core part of a zero trust security approach.

Common PAM mistakes to avoid

• Treating PAM as a one-time project. New admin accounts appear constantly; discovery and reviews must be ongoing.
• Ignoring service accounts and secrets. They’re often the most privileged and least monitored accounts in the environment.
• Too many Global Administrators. Use narrower admin roles for specific tasks.
• Forgetting offboarding. Departing admins and vendors must lose access immediately. Use an offboarding checklist.
• Making the process so painful people bypass it. Fast, simple JIT requests keep people inside the controls.

Conclusion

Privileged access management comes down to a simple idea: the accounts that can do the most damage deserve the most protection. Start by finding every admin account, cutting the ones you don’t need, separating admin work from daily work and requiring strong MFA. Then add vaulting, just-in-time access and monitoring as your tools and budget allow. Each step makes it much harder for an attacker to turn one stolen password into a company-wide incident.

Sources

• NSA and CISA: Top Ten Cybersecurity Misconfigurations (AA23-278A) — privilege-related misconfigurations and recommended mitigations
• NIST CSRC Glossary: Privileged account — definition of a privileged account
• Microsoft Learn: What is Microsoft Entra Privileged Identity Management? — just-in-time and time-bound role activation features
• Microsoft Learn: Windows LAPS overview — local administrator password rotation and supported platforms