Platform Security Privileged Access Management

Platform Security Privileged Access Management (PAM) stops that from happening. PAM is the discipline of controlling, monitoring, and securing the accounts that have the highest level of access to your infrastructure. These accounts—admin, root, database owner—are keys to your production environment. Improper controls turn them into attack vectors. Strong PAM locks them down.

The foundation is identity enforcement. Every privileged session should begin with verified authentication. This means multi-factor checks, hardware keys, and real-time validation against centralized identity stores. Credentials must be vaulted and rotated so no static password lingers long enough to be abused.

Access should be granted with precision. PAM uses just-in-time provisioning to give users elevated rights only for the exact tasks and timeframes they need. Once done, permissions disappear automatically. Persistent privileges are eliminated. Session logging tracks every command and change, tying actions to specific identities so there is no ambiguity in forensic analysis.

Monitoring is the next defense layer. Privileged sessions should be recorded in full—screens, keystrokes, API calls. Automated alerts must trigger if behavior diverges from known patterns, signaling possible compromise. Integration with SIEM systems enables correlation with other security events.

Engineers harden PAM by applying least privilege across all services. This extends beyond human accounts to machine identities, deployment pipelines, and service accounts. Each token, API key, or certificate is treated with the same rigor as root credentials. Expired or unused privileged accounts must be purged.

Without PAM, your platform’s control plane is exposed. With PAM, every elevated action is an intentional, transparent, and reversible process. It is security at the core, not at the perimeter.

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