Hey security champions! 👋
Welcome to the fourth post in my Identity Management series on Dev — and yes, this is still my first series ever here! Today, we're talking about Privileged Access Management (PAM) — arguably the most powerful and risky identity element in any environment.
🧠 What is PAM?
Privileged Access Management (PAM) involves controlling, monitoring and auditing the accounts that have elevated rights — such as domain admins, root users and global administrators. These accounts, if compromised, can lead to complete system takeovers, data breaches, or ransomware spread.
🚨 Why PAM is Critical
🔐 PAM in Windows Server
🛠️ Native Tools for PAM
Just Enough Administration (JEA) – Define what commands users can run.
Just-In-Time (JIT) Access with Windows Admin Center or Microsoft Identity Manager (MIM).
Group Managed Service Accounts (gMSA) – Securely manage services without static passwords.
🔧 Example Use-Case: JEA Configuration
Create a custom role:
powershell
New-PSSessionConfigurationFile -VisibleCmdlets Get-Service,Restart-Service -Path .\LimitedAdmin.pssc
Register it:
powershell
Register-PSSessionConfiguration -Name LimitedAdmin -Path .\LimitedAdmin.pssc
Assign it to a specific group/user only.
✅ Benefits:
Reduce attack surface by limiting commands.
Enforce audit logs for every action.
Provide temporary access when required.
🐧 PAM on Linux
Linux offers deep access control via sudo, but PAM requires centralization and auditing.
🔧 Strategies:
Use sudoers carefully: Limit commands per user.
Integrate with LDAP or FreeIPA for role-based access.
Implement session recording with tools like auditd, tlog, or ttyrec.
Use key-based SSH instead of passwords and rotate keys regularly.
💡 Automation Tip:
Use Ansible or Chef to push PAM configuration across servers:
bash
Defaults log_output
Defaults logfile="/var/log/sudo.log"
☁️ PAM in Azure Active Directory
Azure AD takes PAM to a whole new level with Privileged Identity Management (PIM) — available in Azure AD Premium P2.
🛠️ Features:
Just-In-Time (JIT) role activation
Approval workflows
Audit logs and alerts
Access reviews for stale permissions
🔧 Quick Setup:
Go to Azure Portal → Azure AD → PIM.
Select a role like Global Administrator, click "Eligible" → "Add assignments".
Require MFA, justification, approval and set activation time limit.
💡 Real-Time Use-Case:
A cloud admin only needs the ‘User Administrator’ role for 30 minutes?
→ Grant PIM access with approval and auto-expiration after 30 minutes.
🎯 Time-Saving Tips for Developers and IT Teams
🔍 Tools to Consider (Optional 3rd Party)
CyberArk – Enterprise-grade PAM platform
BeyondTrust – For endpoint privilege elevation
ManageEngine PAM360 – Budget-friendly PAM solution
Thycotic / Delinea Secret Server – Password vaulting & access management
🧩 Best Practices to Implement PAM
🚫 No permanent admin accounts – Convert to eligible via PIM or scoped JEA roles.
🕒 Time-bound access – Every elevation must have expiry.
🧾 Session logging – Especially on critical systems and cloud environments.
🔐 Use password vaults – Rotate service account credentials securely.
🧪 Test before rollout – PAM is powerful, but can block operations if misconfigured.
🚀 Real World Scenarios
Windows Server DevOps teams use JEA to let junior admins restart services, but not change configs.
Cloud Security Engineers at a bank use PIM for all Global Admin activity — with full audit trails.
SOC teams integrate PAM logs into SIEM to catch elevation abuse or privilege misuse.
🧭 Wrapping Up
PAM is about precision. Giving access when it’s needed, not before or forever. It’s how modern IT teams stay compliant, secure and audit-ready without babysitting admin rights all day long.
👉 Next Up: Directory Services (LDAP, AD, Azure AD): Understanding the Backbone of Identity!
