Implementing a Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution is essential to securing an organization’s most sensitive data. However, IT teams often face challenges in effectively deploying a
Your company should adopt a Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution to reduce security risks, prevent unauthorized access and gain more control over who can access sensitive data and systems. According to Keeper Security’s Insight Report on Cloud-Based Privileged Access Management, 88% of companies in the U.S. are seeking a cloud-based PAM solution to combat advanced cyber attacks. Since privileged accounts are valuable targets in the majority of data breaches, organizations need to implement a PAM solution to prevent cybercriminals from bypassing security defenses and accessing sensitive data.
Continue reading to learn seven ways a PAM solution can help protect your organization’s privileged accounts.
1. Protects against insider and external threats
Insider threats, whether malicious or accidental, can come from employees, contractors or third-party vendors who misuse their privileged access. According to Keeper Security’s The Future of Defense Report, 40% of survey respondents suffered a cyber attack originating from an employee. This highlights the risk posed by individuals with trusted access who can unintentionally or deliberately compromise sensitive systems. Alongside insider threats, external attackers frequently target privileged accounts using methods like phishing or credential theft to gain unauthorized access to sensitive systems.

A PAM solution helps protect against insider and external threats by providing IT administrators with capabilities to monitor and control privileged access. Features such as session recording and keystroke logging make it easy to detect suspicious behavior and investigate incidents. PAM solutions also help enforce least-privileged access through granular Role-Based Access Controls (RBAC), which ensure users have access only to the systems and data necessary for their roles. This limits the impact of compromised credentials and reduces the chance of privilege misuse. Even if an attacker gains access, PAM makes it much harder to move laterally or elevate privileges within a network.
2. Enforces least-privilege access
The Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) is the practice of giving users only the access they need to perform their jobs – and nothing more. Yet, according to ConductorOne’s 2024 Identity Security Outlook Report, over three-quarters of organizations suffered a cyber attack caused by overprivileged users or improper access to privileged accounts. This points to a widespread failure to manage privileged access effectively, which is a gap that a PAM solution is specifically designed to address.
PAM enforces PoLP by providing organizations with fine-grained control over who can access what, when and for how long. Rather than granting standing access to sensitive systems, PAM supports role-based policies that grant permissions based on job responsibilities. Features like Just-in-Time (JIT) access enhance this by providing temporary elevated privileges only when needed and automatically revoking them once the task is complete. These controls help reduce the risk of lateral movement, minimize unnecessary exposure and ensure users don’t retain access they no longer need.
3. Simplifies compliance and audit readiness
A PAM solution plays a critical role in helping organizations meet regulatory and compliance standards, including:
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
- Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)
- Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS)
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
Many of these regulations require strict controls over who can access sensitive systems and data. Failing to meet these standards can result in significant consequences, such as financial penalties and reputational damage, depending on the specific law and the severity of the violation.
A PAM solution helps meet compliance requirements by enforcing strict access controls, capturing detailed logs of every privileged session, request and system change, and storing these logs securely. These records serve as clear evidence of access management, helping organizations pass audits and prove compliance more easily.
4. Improves operational efficiency
Although PAM is often used to strengthen security and compliance, it also significantly improves operational efficiency. According to 2025 research from Wasting Time at Workplace, employees spend approximately one full workday each week performing repetitive, manual tasks that could be easily automated. These tasks include manually provisioning privileged access, resetting passwords and managing permissions across various systems. By automating these processes, a PAM solution frees up IT and security teams to focus on higher-value work.
PAM streamlines operations by automatically assigning permissions based on predefined policies, such as role or job function. This eliminates manual approval processes, which speeds up the provisioning of elevated access for users. Additionally, PAM automates password rotation for privileged accounts to ensure that credentials are updated regularly and in line with security and compliance standards.
5. Enhances visibility and control
Without complete visibility and control over privileged access, organizations risk exposing their most sensitive systems. Based on ConductorOne’s 2024 Identity Security Outlook Report, 41% of organizations currently have a mix of on-prem and cloud environments. The increase in hybrid work environments can cause blind spots in access monitoring, where privileged activities may go unnoticed if organizations rely on multiple platforms and tools.
A PAM solution like KeeperPAM® helps address these gaps by providing a centralized dashboard to manage and monitor privileged accounts across on-prem, hybrid and cloud environments. With a modern PAM solution, IT and security teams can easily track user permissions and session activity through a single interface. Features such as session monitoring and real-time alerts help teams stay on top of who accesses sensitive information and what actions they take with privileged access. All privileged activities are logged and securely stored, helping meet compliance requirements while enabling proactive threat detection before issues escalate.
6. Reduces the risk of human error
Human error remains one of the leading causes of security incidents. According to Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report, 30% of data breaches can be traced back to misconfiguration errors. Other common human error incidents include inconsistent credential management and weak passwords. These issues often arise from complex systems, manual processes and a lack of centralized oversight across on-prem, hybrid and cloud environments.
A PAM solution reduces the risk of human error by automating critical security tasks and removing manual steps that commonly lead to mistakes. It enforces secure practices, including automatic password rotation, role-based access provisioning and session termination, without relying on human intervention. By centralizing and automating these processes, PAM helps eliminate missteps and reduces the likelihood of configuration errors or forgotten actions that could expose sensitive systems.
7. Scales with your business
Scalability is an important part of building a modern security infrastructure, and a good PAM solution provides the foundation to manage privileged access as your organization grows. Modern PAM solutions are also designed to seamlessly integrate with existing Identity and Access Management (IAM), Single Sign-On (SSO) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) systems. These integrations allow security and IT teams to embed PAM into their existing workflows to strengthen access security without introducing operational friction.
Manage your organization’s privileged access with PAM
Securing privileged access should be an essential part of every organization’s cybersecurity strategy. By adopting a solution like KeeperPAM, your organization can strengthen security, simplify compliance and improve operational efficiency. From enforcing PoLP to automating credential rotation, KeeperPAM empowers businesses to proactively protect their most sensitive data and systems before a breach occurs.
Request a demo of KeeperPAM today and take full control of privileged access.