BeyondTrust’s warning that identity risks drive most attacks puts privileged access management back at the centre of the security conversation. The point is not simply that attackers target usernames and passwords. It is that compromised identity, combined with excessive privilege, creates the shortest path from an initial foothold to sensitive systems.
The problem for security teams is that privilege is no longer confined to a small group of domain administrators. Cloud consoles, remote support tools, service accounts, automation pipelines and AI-enabled workflows all create paths to powerful actions. When those paths are poorly inventoried or remain permanently active, an ordinary identity compromise can quickly become a high-impact incident.
A modern PAM programme starts by discovering where privilege exists, not just where privileged accounts are officially registered. That means mapping administrative roles, delegated permissions, local administrator rights, cloud entitlements and access granted through third-party tools. The resulting picture should be an attack-path view of privilege: which identities can reach which systems, under what conditions, and with what level of control.
Just-in-time elevation is one of the most effective ways to reduce this exposure. Instead of leaving privileged access active indefinitely, PAM can grant narrowly scoped rights for a defined task and revoke them automatically when the task is complete. Approval workflows, risk-based policies and strong authentication add friction where it matters without making routine administration impossible.
Session management is equally important. Recording and monitoring privileged sessions gives defenders evidence of what happened, while command controls and real-time termination can stop suspicious activity before it becomes destructive. These controls are particularly valuable for remote access, where the organisation may otherwise have limited visibility into how a privileged connection is being used.
For CISOs, the practical lesson is to measure PAM by reduced privilege exposure rather than by vault deployment alone. Useful metrics include standing privilege removed, privileged sessions governed, dormant accounts eliminated, emergency access reviewed and time taken to revoke access after a role change. That moves privileged account security from a tooling project to a measurable reduction in attack surface.
Source: SecurityBrief Australia