Is Privileged Access Management Important for SMBs?

Yes, Privileged Access Management (PAM) is important for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMBs). Any business that has privileged systems and accounts to secure and manage needs a PAM solution. Without a PAM solution in place, businesses are at a greater risk of suffering a cyber attack which can be financially and reputationally devastating. 

Continue reading to learn more about privileged access management and how it benefits SMBs.

What is Privileged Access Management?

Privileged access management refers to how businesses secure and manage access to privileged systems and accounts. This includes payroll systems and IT admin accounts. If the wrong person were to gain access to these systems and accounts, it could negatively impact a business. A cybercriminal could leak data that contains customer and employee Personally Identifiable Information (PII).

PAM is what helps protect these important privileged accounts and systems from unauthorized access, misuse and theft of data. Without PAM, there’s no way to secure or manage access to these systems which leaves businesses vulnerable to cyber attacks. 

The Importance of PAM for Businesses

PAM is important for all businesses because it helps protect them against several types of cyber threats, including:

Credential theft

PAM solutions include password management, which helps businesses securely store and manage privileged passwords to reduce the risk of credential theft that leads to account takeover. PAM solutions can also require that users enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) when accessing privileged accounts; meaning even if a threat actor does successfully steal a password, they would still have to authenticate who they are which they would be unable to do. 

Privilege abuse

PAM solutions leverage Just-in-Time (JIT) and least privilege access so that access to privileged accounts and systems can be restricted to only those who need it and only for the time they need it. This helps to prevent unauthorized access and misuse of privileged accounts. 

PAM solutions also include session recording, which records all privileged access sessions. This gives businesses the ability to identify suspicious activity by privileged users and restrict access if needed. 

Malware infections

Malware is malicious software that infects devices through various techniques – the most common technique being phishing attacks. If a cybercriminal were able to access a privileged account, they would be able to inject certain types of malware which they can use to extract sensitive data. 

A PAM solution can help prevent malware from being installed onto privileged accounts since it minimizes the number of users who can access those accounts. Even if a cybercriminal somehow had the credentials for a privileged account, a PAM solution that leverages JIT access would prevent them from infecting them with malware since access is only provided when needed.

How Can PAM Benefit SMBs?

Here are a few of the ways PAM can benefit SMBs.

Simplifies compliance

PAM helps businesses comply with a variety of industry regulations by providing a centralized way to manage privileged access. Some of the frameworks that PAM solutions can support compliance with are PCI DSS, HIPAA, FDDC, FISMA and SOX. 

Helps satisfy cyber insurance requirements

Cyber insurance is a specialized insurance policy that is meant to protect businesses from the losses that are associated with cyber attacks. Many cyber insurers look at how businesses are managing privileged credentials, how they’re monitoring privileged accounts and what they have in place to audit privileged sessions. To meet cyber insurance requirements, businesses must have a strong security posture. Otherwise, cyber insurers can refuse to cover the cost of a cyber attack due to poor cyber hygiene.

Reduces a business’s attack surface

A business’s attack surface is the number of possible points from which threat actors can access systems and extract data. PAM solutions help reduce a business’s attack surface in a number of ways including:

• Restricting access to privileged accounts and systems to only those who need it
• Requiring MFA to access privileged accounts
• Monitoring and auditing privileged access activity

Improves productivity

An important part of PAM is that it includes password management. With password management, employees will no longer have to rely on themselves to create their own passwords and they’ll also never forget passwords to privileged accounts, because they’re all saved in an encrypted vault. 

With password management, passwords and usernames are automatically filled for users when they log into an account. This reduces the amount of IT help desk tickets for password resets – saving time for both IT teams and employees. 

Reduces costs

According to the IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average total cost of a data breach reached an all-time high of $4.35 million in 2022. Privileged data is the first target when it comes to data breaches – making it crucial for businesses to protect privileged accounts and systems. 

Privileged access management can save businesses from the reputational and financial damages of a data breach. For SMBs, the aftermath of breaches can sometimes cause them to shut down completely, so it’s important they take the steps to secure their most sensitive data with the help of a PAM solution. A PAM solution can be significantly less costly than the impacts of a breach – saving businesses money in the long run. 

A PAM Solution Suits the Needs of Your SMB

Legacy PAM solutions are costly, difficult to implement and complex. SMBs need a PAM solution that’ll fit their needs as a business, is easy to use, simply priced and easy to deploy. KeeperPAM™ covers all that and more. 

KeeperPAM combines Keeper’s Enterprise Password Manager (EPM), Keeper Secrets Manager (KSM) and Keeper Connection Manager (KCM) into one unified platform so businesses can protect their privileged credentials, secrets and remote connections. 

Interested in learning more about KeeperPAM for your business? Request a demo today.