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5 Reasons Why Privileged Access Management (PAM) is Essential for your Organization

Security vulnerabilities are not limited to physical spaces in today’s world. With businesses adapting progressive technologies, the current digital ecosystem renders considerable challenges in cybersecurity. Besides developing such challenges, there is a growing change in the motives and toolkits of hackers, a more menacing threat to businesses than it was ten or twenty years ago. 

The world has become increasingly complex, and it is becoming clear that organizations need to prioritize digital security over many other aspects to prevent losses. Implementing a strong and holistic cybersecurity strategy can also provide competitive advantages in the marketplace. 

The fact is, your business needs to be aware and prepared for potential cyber vulnerabilities. If the pace of security updates is out of alignment with the adoption of new technologies, you may have a serious problem on your hands.

Cloud technology is becoming more prevalent than ever. As a result, exterior loaded security measures are out of fashion now since they are easily bypassed, sabotaging the security of business infrastructures. Moreover, supply chains are growing complex, leading to many potential entry points for hackers. The crux of the matter is the nature and motives of the hackers themselves. Earlier, hackers needed to write their codes, but now, these codes are readily available on the internet. The more user-friendly your infrastructure, the weaker it is digital malfeasance. 

Most hackers are money motivated and data is worth a hefty sum. In the unpredictable yet vital information technology sector, there is a constant need to deploy protective measures to meet cybersecurity requirements. 

 

PAM as a Solution – What is it?

The biggest cybersecurity threats lie with hackers who gain easy access to business systems and steal secure data by installing malware or making significant changes to system configurations. A person with privileged access to your system can override security settings anonymously. It is necessary to stay ahead when it comes to privileged access. This is where PAM kicks in. A PAM solution brings the potential to control and monitor privileged accounts that can potentially expose business systems and data to risk. 

Privileged Access Management combines tools and technology, securing critical information of your business. In addition, the solution is capable of enforcing privileged access policies for privileged users. 

PAM administrators can track every step undertaken by privileged users using this solution, providing them with an unalterable audit trail of their activities. In addition, a PAM solution provides effective cybersecurity planning, with the means to assign or revoke privileged access rights. Such users can set up or modify settings on every sensitive system that is equipped with security defenses. Moreover, PAM offers accurate and updated audit records, implements necessary security policies, and efficiently executes privileged access permissions. 

The sanctity of data security depends completely on the organizations’ preparedness in the areas of access control management, user monitoring, robust management of passwords, and others. A progressive implementation of enterprise-class PAM solutions can help you there.

 

Top 5 Reasons to Invest in PAM:

In a world where over 80% of data breaches involve the theft of sensitive data and privileged credentials, investing in a PAM solution should be one of your most crucial security strategies.

Implementing PAM in your business management strategy can bring comprehensive benefits. Here are the top 5 reasons investing in a PAM solution can be a terrific security option to business assets. 

  • Reduce threats to MSPs and MSSPs

MSPs are prime targets for hackers as they offer access to data and devices of multiple companies. Therefore, for such MSPs and MSSPs, there is no better time to invest in a PAM solution.

Large- and medium-sized enterprises don’t have the resources to manage their security and cloud requirements. Outsourcing these cybersecurity responsibilities to MSPs allows you to focus on core business goals. Investing in PAM software can help secure the endpoints of clients and protect passwords efficiently. In addition, ARCON | PAM offers best-in-class control features, bringing efficiency with compliance. 

  • Transparent and Frictionless – 

Cybersecurity incidents are known to generate considerable friction in boardrooms, giving rise to the need for strong and transparent security controls. A frictionless version of cybersecurity is helpful in guarding the access of illegitimate visitors, continuously monitoring such activity. With a comprehensive PAM solution, businesses can work on the principle of “least privilege”, allowing users to only access data that they need. For a hybrid working environment in the post-pandemic era, a transparent and frictionless solution such as the one ARCON | PAM offers is indeed necessary.

  • Operations & Automation-ready 

With the evolution of the IT world, there has been a rise in multi-platform environments and robotic process automation. ARCON’s next generation PAM solution has been designed to take into account the entire processes and policies of privileged access management. It is designed to be operations and automation-ready. In addition, this next-gen PAM solution considers the working processes of admins, bringing maximum transparency while removing friction, enabling transformation and scaling of your business. 

  • New Revenue Opportunities

While offering increased security, PAM solutions are also instrumental in expanding business horizons. With PAM solutions, businesses can work across hybrid environments with ease. The ARCON | PAM solution grows with business systems, transforming them at every step, allowing the business environment to evolve accordingly. With privileged access, your company can expand its existing offerings and increase its revenues. 

  • Ease of Deployment 

Unlike the first generation of PAM solutions, the modern-day solutions of privileged access management demand minimal changes to the environment of your business, its processes, and its systems, easing the overall deployment process.

With the growing availability of next-generation solutions, ARCON | PAM integrates well within your current system and applications. In addition, the ease of deployment allows businesses to gain immediate value from the solution without having to make any major changes in the existing work atmosphere. 

ARCON | PAM is built to address the evolving use case challenges regarding privileged access, offering IT security with granular controls while enforcing the principle of “least privilege” in your business. A company trusted by over 1000 global brands, ARCON provides industry-level solutions to ensure business scalability and security compliance. If you wish to invest in a PAM solution, ask an expert for the best possible security objective!

Role of IT Security in Business Alliances

Overview

Business alliances and partnerships are key growth enablers for both large organizations and SMBs. The main purpose of a business alliance is to achieve the desired financial goals by sharing operational responsibilities that are mutually and easily doable. 

Many organizations even go for alliances to fulfill the gaps in their business process with the help of their partners. It not only brings efficiency gains but also boosts profitability. 

Now, to make a collaboration that brings the desired results, secure IT infrastructure plays a pivotal role. A single IT security loophole or a cyber incident cannot only affect the victim but also the alliance partner who is involved in the business collaboration with the victim. In other words, in addition to business synergies, both parties need to understand the significance of IT security measures being implemented in place. 

Why is IT security crucial in business alliances?

Although business agreements between two organizations cover the scope, objectives, requirements, and profit sharing details, crystal clear policies on data security and IT governance framework must be part of any partnership agreement.

Every organization desires a secured IT infrastructure today to ensure an uninterrupted business process. With the rising complexities of cyber security, it is highly imperative to keep in  mind the IT infra security requirements of both merging businesses for a smooth transition.  

A single breach incident cannot only cost heavily to both partnering organizations, but other business stakeholders and investors will distrust the company if they find that the data is not managed properly. 

For any partnership to prosper in today’s digital landscape, the partnering organizations have to be at par with global standards. It should start with establishing stringent IT security policies and standards. IT governance is critical to ensure sustainable business growth. 

 

What are the apparent IT risks?

As business-critical data flows from system to system and is shared and accessed by multiple end-users, what would happen if it lands in the hands of any suspicious third-party user or any malicious insider? What if there is cyber espionage or data exfiltration?

The answer to all these questions boils down to one and only way out:Strengthen IT security policy and mechanisms to ensure business continuity. 

For instance, a manufacturing company with large on-prem IT infrastructure collaborates for business synergies with another company with strong supply chain capabilities that has installed multiple SaaS applications.

That means, once merged, the new entity will have large hybrid IT environments, exposing it to more IT and data vulnerability. 

If the new business collaboration fails to establish robust IT governance and policies to manage and monitor end-users in hybrid environments, the threat to systems will amplify. 

Besides, suffering heavy financial losses stemming from the data breach, today’s organizations have to face a double whammy: massive financial penalties arising due to non-compliance. Adding to the woes is the loss of reputation. 

 

Business Alliances: Some Measures for Data Security 

Unified IT governance: Organizations do require a unified IT governance framework for better visibility. A centralized governance approach ensures authorization and audit of every IT activity even as data flows endlessly within the organization. Unified IT governance enhances end-points’ security and secures identities that continually interact with business-critical applications.

Robust Access Control: It is always advisable to have a tight access control in any IT environment. Both for on-cloud and on-prem IT infrastructure, a robust access control mechanism with multiple layers of user authentication validates the end-user. Especially for organizations where a large number of privileged users regularly access business-critical applications and systems, it is highly imperative. Moreover, when two organizations merge, role and rule-based access control helps both the organizations to segregate the users in task-based groups, which again is more secure from an IT risk perspective.

Regulatory Compliance: By building security controls that adhere to regulatory mandates, organizations can mitigate data breaches and avoid paying hefty fines for non-compliance. Several global regulations such as the EU-GDPR and IT Standards like the PCI-DSS, HIPAA, ISO 27001 etc. among many regional and Central Banks mandates explicitly mention the need to reinforce the Access Controls, Access Management, Password Rotations, Segregation of end-users based on responsibilities and frequent IT audits and reporting. 

 

Conclusion

Robust IT security must be at the core of any business alliance. Poor IT security planning or an IT incident will only result in higher cyber insurance premiums and eventually impact the profitability and sustainable growth – the purpose for which entities forge alliances.