What Are the Benefits of Privileged Access Management for Large Organizations?

As IT environments become more complex and the number of privileged accounts increases, organizations face many challenges when managing privileged access, including a larger risk of security breaches. Privileged Access Management (PAM) helps large organizations prepare for growth and security risks by reducing insider threats, enforcing least privilege across all systems and providing centralized control and visibility over privileged accounts.

Continue reading to learn about seven key benefits of implementing PAM in large organizations. 

1. Reduces the risk of insider threats and credential-based attacks

As an organization grows, the number of employees, contractors and third-party vendors increases, along with the number of privileged accounts. The more privileged accounts that exist, the greater the chance they will be misused – either by malicious insiders or by individuals who inadvertently expose sensitive information. Additionally, the growing number of privileged accounts expands an organization’s attack surface for external threats. Credential-based attacks, such as phishing and brute force attacks, become more common as cybercriminals target these high-value accounts. 

How PAM reduces insider threats and credential-based attacks:

• Session monitoring: PAM includes session monitoring, which allows administrators to monitor, control and record privileged sessions in real time. With PAM, IT and security teams can identify unusual or unauthorized activity as it happens. If necessary, they can pause or terminate a session immediately to prevent potential damage.
• Real-time alerting: PAM solutions can be configured to send alerts based on specific user actions or system events. This is particularly useful for detecting suspicious behavior by users with legitimate access, which can be difficult to distinguish from normal activity. 
• Credential vaulting: PAM provides a secure, encrypted vault for storing privileged credentials. Rather than exposing the actual credentials, it injects them on the user’s behalf during a session to maintain security. 

2. Enforces least privilege across the enterprise

According to Keeper’s 2024 Global Survey Report, 40% of organizations experienced a cyber attack that originated from an employee. This highlights the importance of controlling internal access, especially in large organizations where privileged access is more widespread. Without proper enforcement of least privilege, users may have access to more than what’s necessary, also known as privilege creep. This results in excessive permissions that increase the risk of insider threats and give cybercriminals more to exploit if an account is compromised. 

How PAM enforces least privilege:

• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): PAM grants access based on user roles, each with clearly defined responsibilities and permissions. RBAC ensures users operate only with the minimum access necessary to perform their jobs.
• Just-in-Time (JIT) access: PAM can give users temporary access to entire systems or resources. Once the task is completed or the session expires, access is immediately revoked. JIT access prevents users from retaining permanent access or accumulating excessive privileges.
• Privileged Elevation and Delegation Management (PEDM): PAM with PEDM features allows users to perform specific administrative tasks by temporarily elevating privileges for the duration and scope of the task, without granting full system access.

3. Simplifies compliance with regulations

Larger organizations are subject to a wider range of compliance requirements due to the volume of customer data they manage. Regulatory compliance is not only a legal requirement but is also essential for maintaining stakeholder trust and operational integrity. Common industry regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), require strict oversight of privileged accounts. These standards are designed to ensure sensitive data is handled properly and often mandate logging and auditing of privileged access. Failure to comply can result in legal consequences, reputational damage and costly fines. 

How PAM simplifies compliance:

• Session recording and logging: PAM records detailed logs of user sessions, giving IT and compliance teams a clear audit trail for reviewing and analyzing user activity. These recordings can also serve as evidence during audits. 
• Automates compliance reporting: Instead of manually compiling data, PAM can collect and organize session recordings into ready-to-use formats. This streamlines audit preparation and helps IT and compliance teams more efficiently demonstrate adherence to regulatory standards.

4. Centralizes control and visibility

Large organizations often struggle to maintain proper oversight of privileged accounts, especially when those accounts are spread across multiple systems, platforms and environments. Without full visibility, it can be difficult to know who has privileged access, what they’re accessing and whether those actions are authorized. This lack of transparency and centralized control can lead to inconsistent access and increase an organization’s exposure to security vulnerabilities.

How PAM centralizes control and visibility:

• Consolidates privileged access into a unified platform: The best PAM solutions centralize the management of all privileged access through a single platform, making it easier for organizations to enforce consistent security policies, regardless of user or system location.
• Session monitoring: IT admins can monitor all privileged sessions in real time with PAM. If suspicious activity is detected, they can pause or terminate sessions immediately, enabling a rapid response to potential security incidents. 

5. Improves operational efficiency

Manually managing privileged access becomes complex and time-consuming as an organization expands, especially as more users require varying levels of elevated access. IT and security teams often complete repetitive, tedious tasks such as provisioning and deprovisioning accounts, resetting passwords and managing access rights. Having to do these tasks manually not only slows down operations but also increases the risk of human error, potentially leading to misconfigurations or overlooked permissions. 

How PAM improves operational efficiency:

• Automates access provisioning and deprovisioning: PAM systems assign and revoke access based on predefined roles and policies. When a user is onboarded, changes roles or leaves the organization, access is automatically updated, eliminating manual IT processes and ensuring consistent enforcement of access policies.
• Automates credential rotation: PAM automatically rotates passwords, SSH keys and other privileged credentials, securely storing them in an encrypted vault. This allows IT teams to focus on higher-value tasks instead of manually updating credentials.
• Supports Single Sign-On (SSO): PAM integrates with SSO providers to streamline authentication across systems. This reduces password fatigue, minimizes reset requests and accelerates access to resources.

6. Secures remote and third-party access

As more organizations have shifted to remote work and rely on third-party vendors for services like cloud storage, IT support and data management, their exposure to security risks increases. Remote employees and external vendors often operate outside an organization’s traditional security perimeter. According to Medium, 61% of companies reported experiencing a third-party data breach in 2023. Without properly managed access controls, organizations can suffer significant compliance violations and data breaches.

How PAM secures remote and third-party access:

• Enforces Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): PAM enforces MFA to verify a user’s identity before granting privileged access. Even if credentials are compromised, MFA reduces the risk of unauthorized access by ensuring that only authenticated users can initiate privileged sessions. 
• JIT access for third-party users: PAM grants temporary, task-specific access to third-party users only when needed. Access is automatically revoked after the session ends, preventing unauthorized, standing access.
• Secure tunneling: Some PAM solutions, like KeeperPAM®, establish a secure, encrypted connection between the client and the target resource, without exposing credentials or requiring a Virtual Private Network (VPN). This ensures that all data transmitted during a remote session is protected with end-to-end encryption, stopping it from being intercepted by an unauthorized user. 
• Enables Remote Browser Isolation (RBI): PAM provides a secure, isolated browser environment for users accessing internal systems remotely. This protects both the user’s device and the corporate network from potential threats or malware. 

7. Scales with growth and complexity

As businesses expand, they often adopt a mix of on-premises, hybrid and cloud environments to support their operations. However, managing privileged access across these environments is challenging, as each platform uses different tools, access protocols and security policies. According to Keeper Security’s Insight Report, 82% of respondents believe they would be better off moving their on-premises PAM solution to the cloud. This shift could help organizations establish more consistent and secure access controls across all environments. 

How PAM scales with growth and complexity:

• Centralizes access control and policy management: The best PAM solutions allow organizations to manage privileged accounts across on-premises, hybrid and cloud environments from a unified system. It enforces consistent security controls regardless of where resources reside, helping reduce misconfigurations, prevent privilege sprawl and maintain consistent enforcement of security policies across all systems.

Choose KeeperPAM for your large organization

For large and growing organizations, implementing a PAM solution is important for maintaining strong security and operational efficiency. PAM gives organizations the visibility, security and control they need – all within a single, unified platform. 

Built on a zero-trust and zero-knowledge architecture, KeeperPAM offers advanced features like credential vaulting, JIT access, session monitoring and full session recording. These capabilities help reduce security risks and maintain full visibility over all privileged activity, while also streamlining access management across complex infrastructures. 

Request a demo today to see how KeeperPAM can help your organization proactively manage privileged access and strengthen its security posture. 

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