PAM 
Some of the most common mistakes in secrets management include hardcoding secrets, failing to rotate them, over-provisioning access, lacking centralized management and neglecting the lifecycle of
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Published on October 08, 2024
The main difference between Privileged Identity Management (PIM) and Privileged Access Management (PAM) is their varying focuses. PIM ensures that users have necessary access based on their identity, while PAM stops unauthorized users from accessing sensitive information.
Continue reading to learn more about PIM and PAM, in addition to what distinguishes them from each other.
What is PIM?
Privileged Identity Management (PIM) involves managing who is trying to access your organization’s data or network. When your organization invests in a PIM solution, you can manage the types of resources your authorized users can access in specific systems. For example, PIM allows you to manage the users in your organization who need special permissions, set time limits for temporary access and monitor what users are doing with their privileged access.
What is PAM?
Working in tandem with PIM, Privileged Access Management (PAM) focuses on monitoring access to your organization’s most sensitive information and data. Accounts that regularly access sensitive systems, such as those of your organization’s IT department or HR staff, must be protected against unauthorized users because security weaknesses can result in a data breach. With PAM, your organization will maintain control over accounts with access to the organization’s most critical information and ensure their privileged user activity is closely monitored.
The key differences between PIM and PAM
Even though PIM and PAM typically work together to help your organization protect and manage privileged data, there are several differences between them.
PIM and PAM focus on different aspects of IAM
Both PIM and PAM are subsets of Identity and Access Management (IAM), but they focus on different areas of IAM, which is a framework of policies that ensures authorized users have proper access to the resources they need for their jobs. To understand the bigger picture of what PIM and PAM do in relation to IAM, imagine IAM as a security guard at a concert. IAM ensures that only people with valid identification and tickets can enter, making sure that everyone entering has the correct permissions. PIM acts like the system that creates the concert tickets, managing who can sit closer to the stage and verifying that the correct people have access to those privileges. PAM is the VIP concert ticket that allows only special audience members to go behind the stage and meet the performers, ensuring that only people with privileged access can get in since this is the most sensitive area of the concert.
In more technical terms, PIM secures privileged identities and focuses on Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), which gives authorized users access only to what they need to get their work done. Within your organization, PIM can define which roles an authorized user has for specific resources, which can be useful when onboarding a new employee and assigning them to a team with categorized controls.
PAM makes sure that authorized users with access to the most important and sensitive information are closely monitored to protect your organization from data breaches and cyber threats. For example, your organization can benefit from PAM by focusing on your HR team’s permissions to help protect sensitive payroll information.
PIM and PAM have different objectives
PIM ensures that only authorized users have specific privileges based on their identity and keeps track of who can access certain resources. Think of PIM as a receptionist in a large office building, checking your ID badge to make sure you not only belong in the building but also have access to where you’re supposed to be. PAM, on the other hand, is your ID badge that gives you special access to important areas that other employees may not have. The main purpose of PAM is to secure sensitive information and protect privileged users who have access to your organization’s most important data.
PIM and PAM offer different use cases
PIM and PAM can be used in a variety of ways within an organization. PIM focuses more on who can access specific resources, while PAM focuses on keeping that access secure, especially for users who manage sensitive information. You can rely on PIM during the onboarding process because it ensures each employee gets appropriate permissions to access the resources they need. PIM can also be used to update an employee’s access if they need additional files or programs, or PIM can be used to remove access for an employee who leaves your organization.
Your organization can use PAM to safely access important systems with special credentials, monitor what privileged users do when accessing sensitive data and even grant emergency privileged access to administrators who need to fix any issues. Most PAM solutions, like KeeperPAM®, can also help manage your organization’s passwords by offering a password manager, allowing your employees to securely store and share their login credentials.
Protect your organization with PIM and PAM
Although PIM and PAM have several major differences, many PAM solutions include PIM features to enhance the overall security of your organization. Despite their differences, PIM and PAM complement each other by ensuring all employees have appropriate access to resources and securely monitoring accounts with privileged access to sensitive data.
Request a demo of KeeperPAM to see how your organization can achieve secure control and management for every privileged user and protect your sensitive information.
