What is Privileged Identity Management (PIM)?

• IAM Glossary
• What is privileged identity management?

Privileged Identity Management (PIM) is the practice of controlling, monitoring and securing the identities within an organisation that hold elevated permissions. Many organisations have users, such as IT administrators or DevOps engineers, whose identities are granted privileged access to critical systems and sensitive data. If one of these privileged identities is compromised or misused, it can pose serious security risks by granting an unauthorised user broad access across critical infrastructure. PIM helps organisations control which users are granted elevated privileges, under what conditions and for how long, while monitoring and securing those identities throughout their lifecycle.

How PIM works

PIM works by granting elevated permissions only when they're necessary and automatically revoking them when they're not. Here's how the process generally works:

1. Request: A user requests elevated permissions to complete a specific task rather than holding those privileges indefinitely.

2. Verify: The user's identity is authenticated before access is granted, typically using Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to confirm they are who they claim to be.

3. Approve: Access is granted either automatically or through an approval workflow, depending on the sensitivity of the privileges.

4. Grant temporarily: Permissions are granted for a limited period of time, scoped to the specific task rather than permanently.

5. Monitor: Privileged activity is logged and monitored for anomalies throughout the session, flagging suspicious behavior.

6. Revoke: Once the time window expires, privileges are automatically removed, returning the identity to its standard, non-privileged status.

Why PIM is important

Privileged identities are valuable targets because a single compromised admin account can grant access to sensitive data and systems. PIM reduces that risk by governing how, when and for how long elevated privileges are granted.

Minimises the attack surface

Attackers exploit standing access. Every idle privileged identity is an entry point waiting to be abused. PIM removes unnecessary elevated rights and grants them only when needed, so there's much less for an attacker to find and abuse at any moment.

Prevents privilege abuse and limits insider threats

By granting only the minimum access necessary for as long as it's needed, PIM limits what a malicious or negligent insider can do with elevated rights. This is a crucial defense against insider threats, where the risk comes from a user who already has legitimate access instead of an outsider.

Reduces the impact of credential theft

If a privileged identity is compromised or its credentials are stolen, time-limited access narrows the window of opportunity. Since elevated permissions expire automatically, stolen access is often already blocked or expired by the time an attacker tries to use it, limiting potential damage.

Supports compliance and auditability

PIM produces the records, approvals and audit trails that regulatory frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA and PCI DSS may require. These audit trails answer the question auditors most frequently ask: who had elevated access, when and who approved it.

Privileged Identity Management (PIM) vs Privileged Access Management (PAM)

Privileged Identity Management (PIM) and Privileged Access Management (PAM) are closely related and often mentioned together, but they solve different problems. PIM is identity-centric, governing the privileged identities themselves and the permissions they hold. PAM is resource-centric, focused on securing the accounts, credentials and sessions used to access systems. In practice, the two overlap in many ways, and several platforms like Keeper® combine both capabilities into a single solution. For a deeper breakdown, read our blog to learn the difference between PIM and PAM.

PIM best practices

Implementing PIM effectively comes down to following several practices that keep elevated access tightly controlled and continuously accountable. Here are some PIM best practices:

• Apply least privilege: Give every identity the minimum access necessary to perform its task and nothing more. Enforcing least-privilege access minimises the potential damage any single identity can cause if it's compromised or misused.

• Require MFA for privilege elevation: Enforce MFA before any privileged access is granted, ensuring that even if a user's credentials are compromised, an attacker can't activate privileged rights without passing an additional verification step.

• Use Just-in-Time (JIT) access: Grant elevated rights only for the duration of a specific task, then revoke them automatically once it's completed. Just-in-Time (JIT) access eliminates standing privileges, so no permanent admin rights are sitting ready for an attacker to exploit.

• Monitor and record privileged sessions: Capture and log all privileged activity so unusual behavior can be detected, flagged and investigated. Session recordings also provide a clear audit trail for incident response if something goes wrong.

• Review and audit privileged activity regularly: Run periodic access reviews to confirm that each identity still needs the privileges it holds and revoke any access that's no longer justified. Regular audits prevent privilege creep, where users gradually accumulate more rights than their role demands.

• Disable or remove unused privileged accounts: Decommission dormant, orphaned or unused privileged accounts before they become unmonitored. Attackers often target forgotten accounts because no one is watching them.