There’s a Big Problem With PAM
The market today would like you to believe that privileged access management (PAM) is for the biggest fish. For the whales of companies with dedicated SOC teams and central command rooms alit with hundreds of monitors spouting neon green code and red alerts.
But that just doesn’t sound realistic and you’re not convinced.
That’s why you’re reading this.
You’re right to be skeptical. Historically, PAM has been associated with large enterprises. With dedicated security teams. But what’s been isn’t always a good indicator of what should be.
And the truth is, you need PAM. Everybody does. Full stop.
The market-perpetuated notion that PAM is for the select few is elitist. It restricts a necessary tool, gatekeeping security from the majority of companies in the market, including yours.
We don’t stand for that.
Let’s break down how PAM earned this reputation, why that reputation is so detrimental to security today, and what you can do to reclaim your right to security with modern PAM.
Why Is PAM So Out of Reach?
There are a few reasons that PAM has been reserved for large enterprises. These reasons lie heavily in the “because that’s the way we’ve always done things” realm, which means it’s time for a shakeup.
PAM solutions are often complex, costly, and require special expertise to manage. The on-premise requirements bar many companies with fully cloud-based architectures from using it.
The idea that PAM is a security-only tool rather than something both IT and Security can use has discouraged vendors from creating IT-friendly PAM solutions.
Many PAM solutions still operate with a legacy mindset. This prevents them from extending to all resources in play today, like cloud infrastructure, SaaS applications, and browser activity.
Every company deserves to have access to the resources it needs to secure itself. PAM has become a necessity, even for smaller companies. That means they, too, should have access to PAM.
Why Does Everybody Need PAM?
PAM is often associated with large, highly regulated organizations with complex security needs. So if you’re not working with Super-Top-Secret material, it can be easy to brush PAM aside. But ALL companies face existential security threats, not just the biggest ones.
The notion that small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are too small to attract attackers’ attention is simply not true. In 2024, 46% of SMEs fell victim to an attack. That’s nearly half enough to justify serious concern and the need for serious action.
As the workplace becomes more mobile and connected, security only gets harder. Today, privileged access extends far beyond the admin; many users now have some level of access to privileged resources. That means all companies need tools to combat threats at the identity layer.
And that means all companies need PAM.
No One Is Safe
The Ripple Effect of Supply Chain Attacks
A supply chain attack exploits a trusted vendor to reach their customers. The breach spreads like wildfire as attackers leverage legitimate access to move laterally across networks and infect their points of contact. In 2019, a supply chain attack on SolarWinds’s Orion software affected over 18,000 businesses. In 2023, a similar attack played out on MOVEit’s file transfer service affected more than 1,000.
Even if your business doesn’t seem like a high-yield target that would interest attackers, it’s not immune to attack. PAM places a significant layer of protection against threats like these and can greatly reduce their effects by monitoring and controlling privileged access and blocking lateral movement.
Where Did Things Go Wrong?
If everybody needs PAM, why doesn’t everybody have it? And why can’t everybody get it?
There are certain patterns that persist among major PAM providers. They perpetuate the false impression that PAM is strictly for the enterprise.
Legacy Ideals
PAM was developed in the days of exclusively on-premises infrastructure. That format (and all its cost and complexity) have persisted with many of the big PAM vendors because large enterprises can afford to maintain their legacy investments.
Point Solution Trends
Vendors tend to design tools as point solutions rather than holistic ones. This approach provides an easier “land” into your organization, which then supports ongoing license renewals and professional services to maintain and scale.
Vendors Prefer Predictability
If enterprise companies continue to need PAM due to external pressures, it’s easier and more lucrative and risk-averse in the short run for vendors to keep selling to that audience than to venture into uncharted territory.
“PAM is only for Security”
Because PAM solutions continually market and design their products for enterprise-level Security teams, enterprise-level Security teams are the ones that buy and use them. This self-fulfilling prophecy stymies innovation despite the clear need.
These patterns are frustrating. But patterns can change.
What Does Modern, Accessible PAM Look Like?
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Accommodates the modern workplace in all its forms
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Enables IT-security collaboration no matter how those responsibilities are shared
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Accessible from a cost, effort, and resource perspective
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Integrates fully and completely into every access transaction
1. PAM Must Accommodate the Modern Workplace
PAM’s goal is in the name: to secure and manage privileged access in your environment. But to really secure privileged access, PAM needs to extend to everything in your environment.
It should be able to:
Whether you’re in the office, fully remote, or somewhere in between, the workplace is permanently mobile.
A PAM solution isn’t comprehensive enough if it can’t manage access for all of these scenarios.
It should not require circus-level acrobatics to govern privileges for every resource you manage.
PAM has to include SaaS applications, cloud-based and on-premises infrastructure, databases, in-browser activity, and more.
VPNs are expensive, hard to scale, and not particularly remote-friendly or user-friendly.
They don’t align with core Zero Trust principles, defending at the perimeter rather than the identity level. PAM shouldn’t require a VPN to operate.
Legacy PAM solutions weren’t designed to meet these needs, and they’re not sufficient for modern workplaces.
2. PAM Should Be Cost & Resource Accessible
Not every company has on-premises infrastructure, and that number is dwindling as cloud hosting becomes the default. At the same time, some companies do still have on-premises infrastructure they need to protect, and PAM solutions should be able to handle that, too.
And yet, there are a few things that make PAM inaccessible to the majority of companies:
Many legacy PAM tools run at least partially on on-premises infrastructure, which places the burden of hosting on the customer.
PAM tools shouldn’t require on-premises infrastructure as a means of entry.
Many PAM solutions are complex and require specific expertise to operate them. This bars those without a Security team from using PAM solutions.
PAM should be designed to be used by either Security or IT teams.
Accounting for licenses, implementation, server maintenance, and personnel, it’s clear that PAM costs have remained prohibitively high for SMEs.
Vendors should include affordable PAM offerings for SMEs.
PAM solutions should give the customer the choice of running it on cloud-based infrastructure, on-premises infrastructure, or a mix of the two.
3. PAM Should Support IT-Security Integration
The market continues to treat PAM as a Security-only solution. But 91% of Security professionals say collaboration with IT is critical to their strategy.
If you don’t have a Security team, your IT team should still be able to use PAM. If you do have a Security team, they should approach PAM as a collaboration effort with IT.
For PAM to be truly accessible, it should be accessible by IT teams that may (or may not) have deep security experience.
This means PAM tools should:
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Offer solutions scoped and designed for smaller companies.
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Provide context and analysis for non-specialized admins.
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Build native integrations and user-friendly interfaces.
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Be easy to launch and connect to everything in the environment.
4. PAM Must Be Fully Integrated
Comprehensiveness is critical to an effective security solution. A solution that isn’t comprehensive leaves blinds spots open to vulnerability. And if security solutions are treated as comprehensive even when they aren’t, those blind spots go unattended, putting you in an even worse position than where you started.
For PAM to be comprehensive, it needs to extend to everything in your environment so it can cover every access transaction.
The best way to achieve this is with a PAM solution that’s fully integrated across:
Security at the identity layer is critical to Zero Trust, and to PAM. PAM should secure access at the identity layer (not the legacy perimeter).
One device per employee is no longer the work default. PAM must be able to protect access regardless of on which device they happen.
PAM’s scope should extend to every access transaction, regardless of where it takes place.
The majority of business happens in the cloud, and PAM should be able to support those resources.
A platform that combines PAM with central IT management can help ensure comprehensiveness.
You need PAM, but vendors aren’t providing accessible options. It’s clear there’s a gap in the market.
That means things need to change.
JumpCloud was designed to be an accessible, modern alternative to market goliaths. Democratizing solutions is part of our DNA.
So we’re bringing PAM to you.
JumpCloud recently acquired VaultOne, a modern PAM solution, to make PAM accessible and effective for companies of all sizes. JumpCloud PAM offers you a clear path to securing every critical asset, streamlining compliance, and confidently meeting today’s toughest security challenges.
Learn more about JumpCloud PAM
With JumpCloud, IT teams and MSPs enable users to work securely from anywhere and manage their Windows, Apple, Linux, and Android devices from a single platform.
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