The Top 9 PAM Features That You Actually Need

Updated on August 31, 2026.

Privileged Access Management (PAM) is a subset of Identity and Access Management (IAM) that specifically addresses controlling access for users who work with the most sensitive systems and data within an organization, such as IT, information security and DevOps personnel. Among other tasks, PAM enforces the principle of least privilege, which grants users the minimum level of systems and data access they need to do their jobs.

Traditionally, PAM has focused on human privileged users, but as organizations adopt AI and automation, PAM must now extend to machine users as well. As cyber attacks rise in frequency, intensity and financial impact, more organizations are adding PAM solutions to their security technology stacks. However, evaluating and selecting the right one can be challenging with so many competing PAM products available. 

Let’s examine the top nine privileged access management features you actually need to secure your organization.

1. Cloud-based, zero-trust and zero-knowledge security

Even though today’s organizational data environments are heavily or even entirely cloud-based, many “modern” PAM products were originally developed for on-premises infrastructures, with cloud features shoehorned in later. PAM products that weren’t developed in the cloud don’t take full advantage of cloud features such as the ability to automatically scale cloud resources up and down as needed (auto scaling), zero-trust security and zero-knowledge encryption.

Products that are not zero knowledge are inherently less secure because the service provider has access to sensitive user data. Non-zero-knowledge providers store data in a readable format or have the ability to decrypt user data. If their systems are breached, attackers can potentially access this sensitive data. Conversely, zero-knowledge providers cannot read user data – even if a breach occurs – because the data is encrypted, and only the user holds the keys.

In addition to preventing breaches of sensitive user data from external threat actors or malicious insiders, zero-knowledge encryption keeps sensitive data out of the hands of government regulators. Data stored by the provider is subject to local laws and could be accessed or monitored without the user’s consent, and governments or regulatory bodies can request access to user data. A company that does not use zero-knowledge encryption may be legally compelled to provide user data in response to such a request. If an organization uses zero-knowledge encryption, they are unable to comply with such requests because they simply cannot decrypt user data.

Finally, zero knowledge builds trust between service providers and their customers. Organizations must trust their service provider to handle and protect their data responsibly.

In a zero-knowledge environment, this trust is easier to give because the service provider cannot access sensitive user information – no matter what.

How KeeperPAM’s zero-trust, zero-knowledge platform is built for cloud environments

Unlike many of our competitors, KeeperPAM® is not an on-prem product with cloud features tacked on later. KeeperPAM was built in the cloud, for the cloud, using Keeper’s zero-knowledge security architecture. This means that no one but the end user can view the passwords, files or other data stored in their Keeper Vault – not your local administrator, not even Keeper’s own employees. Keeper’s infrastructure brokers connections, and end-to-end encrypted, peer-to-peer connections are created from the user’s browser to the target infrastructure.

2. Granular access control and policy enforcement

Granular access control helps organizations create a secure, efficient and compliant environment by limiting access to exactly what users or systems need. It is usually paired with Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and least-privilege access (also known as just enough privilege, or JEP), where permissions to access systems and data are based on an employee’s job function, with the end goal being to ensure that users can access only those resources they need to perform their jobs – and no more. Since granular access control, RBAC and least-privilege/JEP are cornerstones of modern zero-trust security environments, it is imperative that your PAM solution supports them.

Just-in-Time (JIT) access is another important feature to ensure secure privileged access. JIT grants users or systems temporary, time-limited access to resources only when they need them to perform specific tasks. This means that access is:

• Provisioned on-demand: Activated when requested or triggered by a specific event.
• Time-bound: Automatically revoked after a predefined period or once the task is complete.
• Context-aware: May incorporate conditions such as user role, location, device or security posture.

By granting access only when it’s needed and automatically revoking it, JIT is a crucial step toward Zero Standing Privilege (ZSP): an approach in which no user or system holds permanent access. That principle is especially important as organizations extend PAM to machine identities.

How KeeperPAM enforces granular access and zero standing privilege KeeperPAM can provide JIT access to any target infrastructure or system without exposing credentials. Once access expires, the credentials can be automatically rotated. By implementing JIT and least-privilege/JEP principles, KeeperPAM reduces standing privileges, mitigating security vulnerabilities and reducing the risk of excessive permissions.

3. Session management, monitoring and recording

In the context of privileged access management, session management, monitoring and recording are critical features that provide oversight, control and accountability over privileged user activities. These features ensure that actions performed by privileged accounts are carefully tracked, logged and reviewed to mitigate risks associated with their elevated access.

Session management involves controlling privileged user sessions, including initiating, maintaining and terminating access to sensitive systems. Make sure your PAM solution has the following capabilities:

• Session initiation: Facilitating secure, time-bound connections to target systems.
• Access control: Enforcing policies like time limits or specific device usage during sessions.
• Session termination: Automatically ending sessions based on inactivity or policy violations.
• Session monitoring: Real-time tracking of user activities during privileged sessions that allows IT and security personnel to view what actions are being performed, often through live dashboards or screen-sharing mechanisms.
• Session recording: Capturing and storing detailed logs and, often, video-like playback of privileged sessions. Recordings typically include keystrokes, commands executed, screens viewed and more.

Session management, monitoring and recording help prevent malicious activities by allowing security teams to intervene if suspicious or unauthorized actions are detected during a privileged session. They reduce insider threats by deterring privilege misuse and providing evidence for forensic investigations if incidents do occur. Session management, particularly session recording, is also key for compliance. Many industry standards and regulatory frameworks (e.g., HIPAA, PCI DSS and GDPR) require tracking, documenting and reporting on privileged user activities to protect sensitive data.

Make sure you select a PAM solution that supports tunneling and Bring Your Own Tools (BYOT). Tunneling refers to the ability to securely route and manage communications or interactions with remote systems through an intermediary or proxy without requiring direct access to the target system. This is particularly important in PAM solutions because it enables secure, encrypted communication between the user’s device and the target system; routes all communications through a PAM gateway or proxy, which enforces RBAC and allows session management; and supports multiple protocols (e.g., SSH, RDP, HTTPS) to enable users to manage diverse environments securely.

BYOT is a feature in comprehensive PAM solutions that allows users to securely use their preferred tools and applications to interact with systems rather than relying solely on the tools provided by the PAM platform. For example, it lets system administrators use their favorite SSH client, like PuTTY or Terminal, to connect to a server through the PAM platform. This accommodates workflows that require specialized tools or user preferences while maintaining security and governance. 

How KeeperPAM strengthens privileged session management KeeperPAM’s Privileged Session Management (PSM) tools use secrets vaulting, JIT/JEP and recording and playback of remote sessions to ensure that critical credentials and infrastructure are protected. Through session recording and keystroke logging, user activity during connections and on protected websites can be recorded for review, compliance or security purposes. This ensures proper interactions and reduces insider threats and fraud. User actions within the Keeper Vault are also recorded, and Keeper’s Advanced Reporting and Alerts Module (ARAM), a paid Enterprise add-on, lets organizations alert on suspicious activity such as failed logins, administrative policy changes, record sharing and user lifecycle changes, and build custom, event-based audit reports for compliance reviews. KeeperAI® builds on this by applying automated threat and anomaly detection to identify suspicious privileged activity and generating session summaries to accelerate review. With ARAM enabled, organizations can push audit events to their existing Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tool for more sophisticated analysis. Keeper supports any SIEM that accepts syslog push, plus out-of-the-box integrations for many, including Splunk, Datadog, Azure and LogRhythm. KeeperPAM gives developers a choice to access systems – they can use Keeper to access resources, or they can create encrypted TCP tunnels to access systems using their preferred tools, such as databases or terminal emulators. KeeperPAM also offers Remote Browser Isolation (RBI), which isolates a user’s web browsing activity from their local device by running it in an isolated virtual environment, such as a sandbox or virtual machine, on a remote server. The web content is rendered on the remote server, so malicious scripts, malware or exploits cannot reach the user’s device.

4. Endpoint privilege management

Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM) is a subset of PAM that removes standing local administrator rights and enforces least privilege on endpoints. Instead of letting users run as permanent local administrators, EPM lets them operate as standard users and elevates privileges only to run the specific actions that need elevated rights, for a limited time and with a full audit trail. EPM is significant because PAM and EPM protect different points in an attack; PAM governs who can reach your most critical systems, while EPM governs what a user can do on an endpoint. Removing standing local admin rights narrows an attacker’s options, even on a device they already control, reinforcing the importance of both PAM and EPM.

How Keeper Endpoint Privilege Manager enforces least privilege on endpoints Keeper Endpoint Privilege Manager enforces least-privilege access policies across Windows, macOS and Linux endpoints. It eliminates standing local admin rights and provides JIT elevation for both users and processes. When a policy requires approval, the user’s request is routed to a Keeper administrator and managed through the Admin Console or Keeper Commander CLI. If no approval is needed, the Keeper agent automatically allows the elevation, and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) can be enforced before an action proceeds. This provides organizations with centralized, policy-based control over endpoint privileges without slowing users down.

5. Non-Human Identity (NHI) governance

A Non-Human Identity (NHI) is a digital identity belonging to a machine or software rather than a human, including service accounts, API keys, tokens, certificates, automation scripts and AI agents. Each NHI uses credentials to authenticate and act without a human driving every step. NHIs matter because they have silently become the largest identity population in most organizations, often far outnumbering human users. However, they are rarely governed with the same rigor as human accounts, which are typically centralized under a single Identity Provider (IdP). NHIs are decentralized by nature because they are spun up dynamically across cloud platforms, and that sprawl makes them difficult to inventory and even harder to govern. Since many NHIs have no clearly assigned owner, they tend to outlive the systems that created them and linger as easily exploited, unmonitored, over-permissioned credentials.

How KeeperPAM governs NHIs Through Keeper Secrets Manager, KeeperPAM protects NHIs and human identities within a single zero-knowledge platform, so credentials like API keys, tokens and service-account passwords are encrypted and accessible only to authorized identities. Keeper automates the discovery of accounts and credentials across enterprise environments, then centrally vaults and rotates them in line with zero-trust security principles. Universal Secrets Sync mirrors rotated secrets out to services like AWS Secrets Manager and Azure Key Vault, so downstream users always receive the current credential without standing access. The result is centralized visibility and control over machine identities that traditional IAM tools tend to lack.

6. Agentic AI governance

Agentic AI governance focuses on controlling which autonomous AI agents are permitted to run on your endpoints by recognizing them, deciding whether they’re allowed to execute actions and auditing their activities. It is one of the fastest-growing categories of NHI, and it introduces risks that legacy PAM was never built to handle. AI coding assistants and other AI agents increasingly launch and run with the same privileges as the user who initiated them, often with little to no oversight of each action taken. Deciding which agents are sanctioned, which are blocked and which require approval before they run is a core aspect of modern PAM and EPM.

How Keeper Endpoint Privilege Manager governs AI agents Keeper Endpoint Privilege Manager includes an Agentic AI policy type, enforced by the Keeper agent, that determines whether an AI agent is allowed to run on a monitored endpoint. It recognizes agents as either Known Agents, which are identified by signature, or Possible Agents, which are surfaced by a behavioral heuristic engine that scores processes based on their similarity to an AI agent. Administrators can automatically allow sanctioned agents, deny others or hold an agent for administrator approval before it’s allowed to run. Policies can be introduced in Monitor mode first to validate scope, and every governed agent is recorded, giving security teams a full audit baseline of AI agent activity.

7. Passkey support

Passkeys are a modern, phishing-resistant authentication method designed to replace traditional passwords. They are a type of passwordless login system that uses public-key cryptography to enhance security and ease of use. Passkeys are being adopted by major tech companies, including Apple, Google and Microsoft, and are supported by the FIDO Alliance. As they become more widespread, they are expected to dramatically reduce password-related cyber attacks, make online experiences safer and more user-friendly, and transform digital identity verification by standardizing secure, easy-to-use methods.

By embracing passkeys, organizations can significantly enhance security while reducing the complexities associated with traditional password management – so be sure your PAM solution supports them.

How KeeperPAM simplifies passwordless authentication with passkeys

KeeperPAM stores passkeys, passwords and files for every employee on every device. When paired with SSO integration, KeeperPAM allows your users to enjoy a seamless, passwordless experience.

8. Credential management and automated rotation

Automated password rotation and vaulting are features of modern PAM solutions that enhance the security and management of privileged accounts by automating the handling of passwords and storing them securely.

Automated password rotation automatically changes privileged account passwords at specified intervals or after every use. The process is governed by predefined policies and does not require manual intervention. Automated password rotation reduces the risk of unauthorized access due to compromised or outdated credentials, ensures that no users retain persistent access to privileged accounts and meets regulatory requirements, such as PCI DSS and HIPAA, that mandate password rotation.

Password vaulting refers to securely storing privileged account credentials in an encrypted, centralized repository (the “vault”). Users or systems must authenticate with the PAM solution to retrieve passwords for accessing resources. Access to the vault is restricted based on policies like RBAC, and credentials can be retrieved for specific sessions and are hidden from the user. This eliminates scattered storage of sensitive credentials across systems or personal devices, integrates with access control policies to restrict who can retrieve or use specific passwords and logs every access to the vault, providing visibility into credential usage.

In general, cybersecurity best practices advise against password sharing. Ideally, all users should have unique logins for every system and application. However, in practice, this isn’t always realistic, so it’s important to ensure that your PAM solution lets your users share passwords securely. In addition to shared accounts, look for features such as temporary sharing (time-limited access), one-time shares and self-destructing shares.

How KeeperPAM secures credential vaulting

KeeperPAM enables users to securely share account access without exposing credentials. Shared access can be indefinite or time-limited, including One-Time Shares and shares that self-destruct after a specified period. Once access expires, the credentials can be automatically rotated. KeeperPAM gives IT and security teams complete control over which users can share credentials and files. By ensuring that only authorized users can initiate shares, organizations can prevent data loss and more easily adhere to compliance regulations.

KeeperPAM’s zero-knowledge security architecture ensures completely secure password vaulting. Keeper cannot access anything within user vaults, and no traffic is routed through Keeper’s network, ensuring total data privacy. No one, not even Keeper employees, can access or decrypt user vault data.

KeeperPAM’s automated password rotation allows administrators to discover, manage and rotate credentials for service or administrator accounts throughout their enterprise data environments. Keeper’s centralized vaulting and password rotation feature aligns with the zero-trust model by ensuring credentials are not persistently accessible and that all access is verified and monitored.

9. Protection of the entire organization, not just IT

Some PAM products on the market today are designed solely to protect IT administrators, DevOps personnel and other privileged users. However, it is critically important to secure all users within your organization, not just those with privileged access. This means you would have to deploy both a PAM solution and a general IAM solution – then manage and maintain both products. This creates more work for your IT and security teams and makes it more difficult to ensure that internal policies and controls are applied consistently across your entire user base.

How KeeperPAM was built to secure all of your users With KeeperPAM, all organizations need to do is deploy the Keeper Vault to all of their users for complete coverage. KeeperPAM provides role-based, least-privilege access control tailored to job functions. This allows organizations to streamline user access while maintaining robust security policies, reducing administrative tasks for IT teams and friction for end users. KeeperPAM is easy for everyone in your organization to use. It doesn’t require users to have line-of-sight access to the infrastructure or the Keeper Gateway. Deploy the Keeper web vault and vault access is fully embedded in the browser — no desktop install required. Endpoint privilege management uses a lightweight agent, deployed separately where you need it.

Choose KeeperPAM as your organization’s PAM solution

KeeperPAM is the first-ever solution to bring critical PAM functionality into a cloud vault that provides secure access to your entire user base – not just your IT department. As a fully cloud-native platform, KeeperPAM consolidates vaulting, secrets management, endpoint privilege management, zero-trust access and remote browser isolation in a unified interface — securing human and machine identities, and even AI agents operating across your environment.

Schedule a KeeperPAM demo to learn more about Keeper’s proactive approach to securing access and unifying management for all your critical resources.