What Is a Privileged Access Workstation (PAW)?

Updated on August 14, 2025

A Privileged Access Workstation (PAW) is a dedicated workstation or virtual machine that is physically or logically separated from the general network. It is configured with a minimal attack surface specifically to perform high-risk administrative duties.

PAWs represent a critical security control for organizations that need to protect privileged credentials and administrative access to critical systems. By isolating privileged operations from everyday computing activities, PAWs significantly reduce the risk of credential theft and lateral movement attacks.

Understanding PAWs requires familiarity with several foundational cybersecurity concepts that form the basis of privileged access security.

Definition and Core Concepts

Privileged Credentials

Privileged credentials are accounts with high-level access to critical systems and infrastructure. These include Domain Admin accounts, Enterprise Admin accounts, and service accounts with elevated permissions. These credentials can access sensitive data, modify system configurations, and control critical infrastructure components.

When compromised, privileged credentials allow attackers to move laterally through networks and access high-value targets. Traditional security approaches often fail because privileged users frequently perform administrative tasks from the same workstations they use for email, web browsing, and other daily activities.

Tiered Administration Model

The tiered administration model is a security strategy that segregates systems and accounts into tiers based on their level of trust and criticality. This model typically includes three tiers:

• Tier 0: Domain controllers, certificate authorities, and other identity infrastructure
• Tier 1: Member servers, applications, and services
• Tier 2: User workstations and devices

PAWs are typically used to access Tier 0 systems, which represent the highest level of privilege within an organization’s infrastructure. This tiered approach prevents administrators from using high-privilege accounts to access lower-trust systems.

Attack Surface Reduction

Attack surface reduction involves minimizing the number of ways a system can be compromised. PAWs achieve this by removing unnecessary software, disabling unused services, and restricting network access to only essential administrative functions.

The reduced attack surface makes it significantly harder for attackers to establish persistence or escalate privileges on the PAW itself.

Privileged Access Management (PAM)

Privileged Access Management (PAM) encompasses the overall strategy and tools for managing and securing privileged accounts. PAWs serve as a key component within a comprehensive PAM strategy, providing the secure platform from which privileged operations are conducted.

How It Works

Isolation

A PAW operates under strict isolation principles. It is not used for everyday tasks like web browsing, email, or accessing non-administrative applications. This isolation can be implemented physically through dedicated hardware or logically through virtual machines with strict network segmentation.

Physical isolation provides the strongest security posture but requires additional hardware investment. Virtual PAWs offer cost-effective alternatives when properly configured with hypervisor-level security controls and network isolation.

The isolation extends to user behavior as well. Administrators must use separate credentials and follow specific procedures when accessing the PAW environment.

Hardening

The PAW’s operating system undergoes extensive hardening to reduce its attack surface. This includes disabling unnecessary services, implementing application whitelisting, and restricting local administrative rights for privileged users.

Windows-based PAWs typically leverage Group Policy Objects (GPOs) to enforce security configurations consistently across the environment. These policies prevent users from installing unauthorized software or modifying critical system settings.

Application whitelisting ensures that only approved administrative tools can execute on the PAW. This prevents malware execution even if an attacker gains initial access to the system.

Credential Protection

Modern PAWs implement advanced credential protection technologies. Virtualization-based Security (VBS) creates a secure kernel mode environment that isolates critical system processes from potential compromises.

Credential Guard leverages VBS to protect domain credentials, NTLM password hashes, and Kerberos Ticket Granting Tickets in a protected container. This prevents common credential dumping attacks like those performed by tools such as Mimikatz.

Windows Defender Application Guard can provide additional protection by isolating web-based administrative consoles in virtualized containers.

Secure Access

The PAW serves as the sole device for connecting to critical systems with privileged credentials. Administrative access is often brokered through secure gateways or jump servers that provide additional logging and access controls.

Network access controls ensure that PAWs can only communicate with authorized administrative targets. This prevents lateral movement if the PAW becomes compromised and restricts data exfiltration opportunities.

Multi-factor authentication is typically required for PAW access, adding an additional security layer beyond traditional username and password combinations.

Monitoring

All activity on the PAW undergoes comprehensive logging and monitoring. This includes application launches, command-line activity, network connections, and file access operations.

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems typically ingest PAW logs for real-time analysis and alerting. Unusual activity patterns can trigger automated responses or security team notifications.

User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) tools can establish baselines for normal PAW usage and detect anomalous activities that may indicate compromise or policy violations.

Key Features and Components

Dedicated Use

PAWs maintain strict separation between privileged administrative tasks and general productivity activities. Web browsing, email access, and document editing are prohibited on PAW systems to prevent exposure to common attack vectors.

This dedication ensures that privileged credentials never interact with potentially malicious content from the internet or untrusted sources.

Strict Controls

Software installation requires explicit approval through change management processes. Network connections are limited to essential administrative protocols and destinations through firewall rules and network segmentation.

USB ports and other removable media interfaces are typically disabled to prevent data exfiltration and malware introduction. When removable media access is required, it undergoes scanning and approval processes.

Separation of Duties

PAWs enforce clear separation between privileged activities and standard user operations. This prevents administrators from accidentally using privileged accounts for routine tasks that could expose those credentials to compromise.

Role-based access controls ensure that users can only access PAW resources appropriate to their administrative responsibilities.

Secure by Design

PAWs are built on trusted hardware platforms with features like Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chips and UEFI Secure Boot. These hardware security features provide a trusted foundation for the software stack.

The software configuration emphasizes security over convenience, implementing defense-in-depth strategies that provide multiple layers of protection against different attack vectors.

Use Cases and Applications

Active Directory Administration

PAWs provide secure platforms for managing domain controllers, Active Directory schema modifications, and other critical AD functions. This includes tasks like creating new domains, managing trust relationships, and modifying security policies that affect the entire organization.

Administrative tools like Active Directory Users and Computers, Group Policy Management Console, and PowerShell Active Directory modules execute exclusively from PAW environments when performing privileged operations.

Cloud Infrastructure Management

Modern PAWs support secure management of cloud resources through privileged accounts. This includes managing identity providers, configuring security policies, and administering high-value cloud services.

Cloud-native PAWs can leverage platform-specific security features while maintaining the same isolation and hardening principles as traditional on-premises implementations.

High-Value Systems

PAWs provide secure access to core infrastructure components including firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, databases containing sensitive information, and critical application servers.

Financial systems, healthcare applications, and other regulated environments particularly benefit from PAW-based administrative access due to their compliance requirements and high-value data.

Advantages and Trade-offs

Advantages

• Reduces Attack Surface: Eliminating high-risk activities like web browsing dramatically reduces the risk of phishing attacks and malware infections that commonly compromise standard workstations.
• Protects Credentials: Privileged credentials never exist on systems that process untrusted content, preventing credential theft through memory dumps or keyloggers.
• Enforces Security Policies: The controlled PAW environment enables strict enforcement of security policies without impacting user productivity on standard workstations.
• Provides Audit Trail: Comprehensive logging capabilities create detailed audit trails for compliance reporting and incident investigation.

Trade-offs

• Administrative Overhead: Each privileged user requires an additional device or virtual machine, increasing hardware costs, software licensing, and IT support requirements.
• User Experience Impact: Administrators must switch between standard workstations and PAWs, potentially reducing efficiency and increasing complexity for routine tasks.
• Training Requirements: Organizations must invest in user training to ensure administrators understand PAW security requirements and follow proper procedures.
• Maintenance Complexity: PAWs require specialized configuration management and security monitoring that differs from standard workstation management approaches.

Troubleshooting and Considerations

Troubleshooting

• Connection Issues: Network restrictions implemented for security can cause connectivity problems to legitimate administrative resources. Administrators should verify firewall rules, network segmentation policies, and DNS resolution before escalating connectivity issues.
• Application Whitelisting: New administrative tools may be blocked by application control policies. Organizations should implement change management processes that allow for timely approval and deployment of necessary administrative software.
• Performance Problems: Extensive security monitoring and virtualization overhead can impact PAW performance. Resource allocation and monitoring tools help identify bottlenecks and optimization opportunities.

Considerations

• Physical vs. Virtual: Physical PAWs offer the strongest isolation but require significant hardware investment. Virtual PAWs provide cost-effective alternatives when implemented with proper hypervisor security controls and network isolation.
• User Training: Administrator training programs must cover PAW security requirements, proper usage procedures, and incident reporting processes. Regular refresher training helps maintain security awareness and compliance.
• Integration Requirements: PAWs must integrate with existing identity management systems, monitoring tools, and administrative workflows without compromising security objectives.

Key Terms Appendix

• Privileged Access Management (PAM): The cybersecurity discipline covering the management, monitoring, and auditing of privileged accounts and their access to critical systems.
• Tiered Administration Model: A security architecture that organizes systems into hierarchical tiers of trust, with strict controls governing cross-tier access and credential usage.
• Lateral Movement: An attacker’s progression from an initial compromise point to other systems within a network, often facilitated by stolen privileged credentials.
• Credential Guard: A Windows security feature that uses virtualization-based security to isolate and protect domain credentials from credential dumping attacks.
• Attack Surface: The total number of points where an unauthorized user can attempt to enter or extract data from a system or network environment.