Do You Need More Than One PAM Solution?

No, you don’t need more than one Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution to protect your organization if you find one that encompasses zero-knowledge security, granular access control, session management and automated password rotation. Previously, your organization may have needed multiple PAM solutions for various tasks; however, KeeperPAM^® is a unified platform that provides centralized cloud management of privileged access, passwords, secrets and connections.

Continue reading to learn about the advantages of using a unified PAM solution and how KeeperPAM contains all the features you need.

Why multiple PAM solutions can cause more harm than good

Using multiple PAM solutions can have more consequences than benefits due to increased complexity, integration issues, higher costs and security gaps.

Increased complexity

Managing multiple PAM solutions can complicate the jobs of your IT and security teams. Different solutions may have different interfaces, policies, configurations and workflows, making it harder to effectively manage privileged accounts across your organization. A unified PAM solution simplifies the management of all aspects of privileged access.

Integration issues

Each PAM solution has its own integration requirements and capabilities, such as different APIs, connectors and protocols. For example, when integrating with Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions, each PAM solution must be configured to authenticate users through the IAM system. This involves consistently mapping roles and privileges across all PAM solutions. In addition, syncing user accounts and revoking access during offboarding becomes more challenging. Using a single PAM solution ensures all tasks are managed, monitored and recorded in one place, simplifying integration with other systems.

Higher costs

Having more than one PAM solution increases spending on licensing, administrators and training. Since you’ll need administrators who understand how to use each PAM tool and troubleshoot each solution if something goes wrong, using multiple PAM solutions will increase your organization’s costs. Instead, your organization should implement a unified PAM solution to lower costs and reduce the time and confusion of learning how separate tools function.

Security gaps

Because each PAM solution has its own guidelines and workflows, using multiple PAM solutions complicates system integration and may cause security gaps. If your PAM solutions don’t collaborate properly, unauthorized users could exploit vulnerabilities caused by the lack of a cohesive solution. For example, one PAM solution might have different password requirements than another, which could lead to confusion and the inability to enforce consistent policies. If your multiple PAM solutions aren’t integrated properly, a cybercriminal can take advantage of security gaps and may gain unauthorized access to privileged information.

Another negative aspect of using multiple PAM solutions instead of just one is difficulty collecting consistent activity logs and creating reports. If each PAM solution you use works differently and collects data in unique ways, you may not get an accurate report on privileged account activity. Without a centralized audit and reporting dashboard, generating consistent and actionable reports becomes more difficult, potentially causing delays or gaps in compliance reporting and auditing. In the event of a security incident, a lack of centralization can also delay detection and response.

The advantages of using a consolidated PAM solution

Rather than relying on multiple PAM solutions, you should use a consolidated PAM solution for simplicity, cost efficiency, improved security and greater scalability.

Streamlined management and simplicity

When your organization uses a consolidated PAM solution instead of multiple tools, managing privileged access becomes much simpler and more convenient. Various PAM solutions may have conflicting interfaces, which can reduce employee efficiency and productivity when handling administrative tasks. Instead of using individual PAM solutions for different processes, everything you need can be found in a centralized dashboard, reducing confusion and the time spent managing privileged access.

Cost savings

Since having multiple PAM solutions can be expensive, paying for just one PAM solution will save your organization money. In general, PAM solutions vary in cost due to several factors, including whether they are cloud-based or on-premises and whether they require additional licensing fees for setup. By reducing these additional costs, a single PAM solution offers both security and financial benefits for your organization.

Improved security and consistent access control

A consolidated PAM solution manages privileged access across your entire system, which means your organization can spend less time worrying about security rules being applied inconsistently. Having a single PAM solution reduces the dangers of human error by making sure security standards are spread evenly across your systems. This makes it more challenging for unauthorized users to gain access if there is no way for them to slip through the cracks of multiple overlapping PAM solutions.

Better compliance and reporting

Instead of juggling multiple PAM solutions to generate reports and meet compliance requirements, using a consolidated PAM solution ensures you have fewer steps to keep track of in terms of monitoring and reporting. Make sure the PAM solution you implement abides by industry-specific standards, such as HIPAA or PCI-DSS, to protect sensitive information.

Improved visibility and monitoring

By using one PAM solution instead of multiple tools, your organization can gain a clearer picture of which users have access to sensitive information and how they are using it. Multiple PAM solutions may make it challenging to have full visibility into the actions of all privileged users due to inconsistencies across separate solutions. With improved visibility and monitoring, a single PAM solution enables you to catch suspicious activity in real time, making it easier to protect sensitive data and systems by centralizing everything in one place.

Scalability and future-proofing

As your organization continues to expand, a scalable PAM solution will be easier to manage than reconfiguring multiple PAM solutions. By investing in one PAM solution, you can prepare to handle more users as your organization grows without needing to change how you manage privileged access. A unified PAM solution can scale to accommodate any number of users, devices and systems requiring privileged access without sacrificing security. Finding a flexible PAM solution that grows with your organization is essential for protecting your sensitive data in the future.

Faster incident response

If your organization suffers a data breach, you must be prepared to respond immediately. With one PAM solution, you can see which users’ information may have been compromised and what those users were doing with their privileged access without having to sift through logs and alerts from different sources. 

Improved user experience

Users who need privileged access might find it confusing to switch between multiple systems.  By implementing a single PAM solution, you simplify and improve the overall user experience for your employees. This can help increase productivity, reduce frustration and promote an uninterrupted workflow.

How KeeperPAM^® simplifies PAM with a single solution

A PAM solution that stands out as a consolidated, unified platform is KeeperPAM^®. With KeeperPAM, your organization can simplify its PAM strategy by eliminating the need for multiple PAM solutions to secure sensitive information. KeeperPAM is a cloud-based, zero-trust and zero-knowledge platform, which means Keeper never has access to your data, systems or sessions. Privileged access is constantly verified to ensure that only authorized users can access your organization’s data. To access KeeperPAM, all users – not just IT administrators – can launch their Keeper Vault, so there is no need to spend time or money on desktop installation or agents.

KeeperPAM offers valuable security features, such as granular access control with Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Just-in-Time (JIT) access, defining which roles are allowed specific privileges and how long authorized users can access specific data. You can also manage, monitor and record privileged sessions with KeeperPAM, allowing you to achieve full visibility into what your privileged users are doing with their access without exposing their login credentials. Another strong feature of KeeperPAM is Remote Browser Isolation (RBI), which enables you to monitor and record browser isolation sessions for auditing and compliance. 

Streamline your PAM strategy with KeeperPAM

You don’t need multiple PAM solutions to increase your organization’s security. In fact, you should streamline your PAM strategy by using a single PAM solution that consolidates everything you need in one platform, like KeeperPAM. Choose KeeperPAM as your PAM solution to leverage zero-trust and zero-knowledge security, monitor and record sessions, secure user passwords and simplify access control.

Request a demo of KeeperPAM today to simplify your PAM strategy and experience the benefits of a consolidated PAM solution.