PAM 
Financial institutions rely heavily on third-party vendors like payment processors, banking platform providers and fintech integrations to maintain operational efficiency. In fact, according to Verizon’s 2025
3 min read
Published on April 06, 2026
Ransomware and stolen credentials are among the most common and harmful attack vectors targeting financial institutions. Since banking systems store valuable financial assets and sensitive customer data, organizations must demonstrate strict control and oversight of privileged access to support regulatory and audit expectations under frameworks such as SOX, PCI DSS and GLBA.
In modern interconnected banking infrastructure, privileged accounts span across trading platforms, payment systems and banking applications. Without real-time insight into privileged sessions, banks may only discover misuse after transactions have been manipulated, logs have been modified or data has been stolen. Banks need real-time privileged session monitoring to gain full visibility into privileged activity, help prevent fraud, minimize the impact of credential-based attacks and meet regulatory standards that govern financial institutions.
Security risks of privileged access in banking
Privileged access introduces significant security risks in modern banking environments. As financial institutions rely on interconnected systems that support trading, payment processing, loan management and customer data storage, the privileged accounts that maintain these systems often have broad standing access. The main security risks associated with privileged access in banking include:
- Compromised privileged accounts: If administrative credentials are stolen, cybercriminals can alter transactions, change financial records, tamper with logs and move laterally across banking systems. Since these actions originate from trusted accounts, malicious activity may go undetected until it’s too late.
- Insider misuse of privileged access: Whether malicious or negligent, insider threats involve authorized users abusing their privileges. Since privileged accounts already have broad access, identifying unauthorized activity requires more than traditional perimeter-based security models.
- Third-party vendor access: Banks typically grant vendors privileged access to maintain trading platforms, infrastructure and payment systems. If vendor credentials are compromised, cybercriminals can bypass external security measures and gain internal access.
- Privilege creep: As employees change roles and project focuses shift, legitimate users accumulate more permissions than necessary. Without continuous oversight, outdated and unnecessary privileges may remain active, increasing the risk that compromised accounts are used to access critical systems.
Why traditional audits are insufficient for modern cyber attacks
Many banks rely on quarterly access reviews and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) alerts to monitor privileged activity, but these measures are reactive. Audits confirm what happened after a security incident, and alerts typically trigger when predefined thresholds are exceeded. As a result, subtle misuse of legitimate privileged access can remain undetected for long periods.
For example, a compromised administrator account may be used to initiate unauthorized transfers and attempt to modify transaction logs to hide malicious activity. Because the actions appear to come from a legitimate account, some alerts may not trigger, and the fraud may not be discovered until later reviews or investigations. Without real-time visibility into privileged sessions, banks are forced to investigate security incidents after financial and reputational damage has already occurred, rather than intercept suspicious activity as it happens.
Real-time privileged session monitoring for compliance
In banking, regulatory compliance goes hand in hand with Privileged Access Management (PAM). Real-time privileged session monitoring helps banks demonstrate continuous control over privileged access. Frameworks like SOX, PCI DSS and GLBA all expect strong access controls, auditability and safeguards around sensitive systems and data.
- SOX: Financial institutions must prove they have effective internal controls over systems that impact financial reporting. Real-time monitoring provides evidence of who accessed critical systems, changes that were made and whether certain actions aligned with approved roles.
- PCI DSS: Organizations must track and monitor access to system components and cardholder data environments. Privileged session monitoring creates detailed audit trails that track activity within cardholder data environments and ensure that all actions can be traced to users.
- GLBA: Banks must protect customers’ financial information, and monitoring privileged sessions ensures that access to sensitive information is tracked, recorded and investigated if suspicious activity occurs. With audit trails and the ability to terminate risky behavior in real time, security teams can reduce the likelihood of unauthorized data exposure and, therefore, compliance violations.
How Keeper® enables real-time privileged session monitoring
Keeper allows banks to monitor and manage privileged access in highly regulated environments. Keeper’s main capabilities include:
- Cloud-native, zero-knowledge architecture: Keeper encrypts credentials and sensitive information end to end, ensuring that even Keeper cannot access stored data, and security teams maintain full visibility into privileged activity.
- Encrypted tunnels: Users can launch privileged sessions through end-to-end encrypted tunnels from the Keeper Vault to securely access remote resources without inbound firewall rules or traditional VPNs.
- KeeperAI for threat detection: KeeperAI analyzes user behavior and privileged access patterns to detect suspicious activity and potential threats in real time, automatically terminating high-risk sessions. It helps security teams identify anomalies faster, prioritize risks based on context and respond proactively to threats before they cause damage.
- Real-time session monitoring and recording: With Keeper, security teams can monitor privileged activity in real time, including executed commands, accessed systems and session duration. Detailed audit logs and recordings provide security teams with proof of compliance for regulatory reviews and evidence for forensic investigations.
- Just-in-Time (JIT) access: Keeper grants privileged access only when needed and automatically revokes it when sessions end. This helps eliminate standing access across interconnected banking systems and reduces the risk of privilege misuse.
- Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) enforcement: Even if systems do not natively support strong authentication methods, Keeper enforces MFA across infrastructure access to help protect sensitive information.
- SIEM integration: Privileged session activity and privileged access events can be streamed directly into SIEM platforms, allowing security teams to correlate session behavior with threat detection and incident response workflows.
Secure privileged access in your bank with Keeper
Banks should not rely only on periodic audits and retrospective alerts to detect suspicious activity. In modern financial environments where privileged accounts can access trading platforms, payment systems and sensitive financial data, delayed threat detection can result in significant financial losses and regulatory penalties.
Real-time privileged session monitoring helps banking security shift from reactive to proactive control, enabling financial institutions to identify and prevent fraudulent activity as it occurs. By delivering full visibility and granular access controls, Keeper helps banks protect privileged access while meeting strict compliance requirements.
Start your free trial of KeeperPAM today to see how your organization can better monitor privileged sessions and protect critical financial systems.
