Privileged Access Management (PAM) - Securing administrator and sensitive accounts

An Administration Bastion is a secure gateway through which all connections to critical systems are routed. Instead of connecting directly to a server, an administrator passes through the Bastion. Every action is authenticated, traced and often recorded, limiting direct access to sensitive environments, reinforcing traceability and providing proof in the event of an incident. In the event of an audit, Bastion is an indispensable tool for demonstrating strict control of privileged access. Today, it is an essential component of any PAM strategy.

Yes. With session logging, real-time alerting and Bastion, it's virtually impossible to use a privileged account without being detected. This discourages malicious behavior and protects the company.

No. With expert support, deployment is gradual and adapted to your environments. We integrate Bastion without disrupting your operations, ensuring smooth adoption by your administrators.

IAM (Identity & Access Management) and PAM (Privileged Access Management) are two complementary pillars of cybersecurity.

• IAM concerns the global management of identities and rights for all "classic" users (employees, subcontractors, partners). It enables accounts to be created, modified and deleted, access to be assigned according to roles, and mechanisms such as SSO (Single Sign-On) and MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) to be applied. The aim is to ensure that everyone has access only to the resources they need to work, and to limit excessive rights.
• PAM, on the other hand, focuses solely on privileged accounts (system administrators, databases, servers). As these accounts are highly powerful, they represent a major target for cyber-attacks. PAM relies on tools such as the Administration Bastion, just-in-time access, automatic password rotation and logging of sensitive sessions.

IAM protects and organizes all identities, while PAM specifically reinforces the security of critical accounts. The two combined offer comprehensive coverage, and are often required as part of compliance initiatives (ISO 27001, NIS2).

A compromised administrator account gives an attacker full power over your infrastructure: deleting data, creating backdoors, installing malware or even paralyzing the entire system via ransomware. Statistics show that the majority of successful cyber-attacks directly or indirectly involve the exploitation of a privileged account. This is why securing such access is an absolute priority.

Just-in-time management means granting elevated rights only when they are needed. For example, a network administrator who needs to carry out maintenance is temporarily granted specific privileges. This avoids the permanent presence of high-powered accounts in the IS, and reduces the window of exposure. In the event of compromise, the attacker will not find accounts with unlimited privileges.

The RGPD, the NIS2 directive and ISO 27001 standards all require strict control of access to sensitive data and critical systems. Even if they don't always mention the term PAM, the practices covered by this solution (privilege management, traceability, auditing, Bastion) are clearly expected.Implementing a PAM is therefore not only good cybersecurity practice, but also an almost unavoidable step to comply with regulatory obligations and avoid penalties in the event of an incident.

A PAM is designed to integrate with existing directories (Active Directory, Azure AD) and identity management tools (IAM). It does not replace these solutions, but complements them. In practice, PAM adds a layer of security to privileged accounts, while IAM continues to manage standard identities.
It can be deployed progressively, starting with critical systems, then extending to the whole IS. This approach makes it possible to reinforce security without disrupting team operations.

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