An organization's servers and systems stay rooted in one place, but the people who need access to them do not. Giving admins, employees, and most importantly, third-party vendors the ability to connect to an organization's endpoints from outside its walls is the essence of remote access.
But from a security viewpoint, this system falls short as it exposes critical resources to external parties. Remote PAM secures the entire remote access life cycle, from secure connection to session auditing. This enables organizations to extend their internal access controls to users outside their premises, by enforcing granular access controls on resources and replacing unsecure connection methods like VPNs.
Without the appropriate security protocols in place, remote privileged access, which is meant to increase productivity, could become a liability. Through unsecured channels and endpoints, organizations are susceptible to several risks when granting remote access.
Every chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and when it comes to cybersecurity, that weak link comes in the form of unsecured endpoints. Organizations cannot secure or control the devices that third-party vendors use while remotely accessing their endpoints. As a result, the organization's systems are prone to unauthorized access, privilege abuse, or malware.
When remote privileged access management is not practiced, it becomes hard to assess whether the third-party user is legitimate or not. If a threat actor gains access to a vendor's credentials, it is difficult to identify that a breach has occurred, since the system misconsiders this access as legitimate.
Without a remote privileged access management solution, the most prevalent method of providing remote vendor access to critical servers is a VPN. A major drawback with VPNs is that they provide all or nothing access to an organization's servers. This means that the vendors often end up with far higher levels of access than their role demands.
Remote privileged access management, or remote PAM, is designed to mitigate these risks by securing the connection used by third-party vendors to connect to an organization's servers. It does this by extending an organization's privileged access management capabilities to endpoints far outside its walls.
Flexibility at the cost of security is a trade-off that organizations shouldn't have to make. The right PAM solution puts remote access on a leash and tight enough to prevent overreach, but flexible enough to get work done. By following the best practices for a remote PAM strategy, organizations unlock a wide range of benefits, from tighter control over critical resources to stronger compliance and stricter audit trails.
Of all the remote access methods, VPNs expose data the most. They grant users broad access when all they need is a single endpoint. A remote PAM solution provides secure alternatives like Secure Shell (SSH), and Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to replace VPNs, providing more targeted and task specific access to users. In line with the Zero Trust ideology, users can be restricted to the specific resources that their tasks require and given access just in time to accomplish them.
While remote PAM is built to secure access from outside the organization, it adds structure to remote access workflows.
Third-party vendors, who often are unfamiliar with internal practices, are guided through a streamlined and policy driven process to the endpoints they require access to. This ensures that securing remote access doesn't mean slowing it down. It means that every connection follows a predictable and auditable flow without introducing operational hindrances.
When users are granted broad access, spotting illegitimate access and suspicious activity gets harder. By increasing the control enterprises have over their privileged resources, remote PAM increases the end-to-end visibility on privileged sessions. This lets organizations maintain credible audit logs that speed up incident response, and ensure compliance with standards like the GDPR, HIPAA, and SOX.
Cybersecurity has no mold that fits every organization. However, with every security ideology, there are certain practices that are guaranteed to improve an organization's security posture. In the context of remote PAM, there are certain controls that help increase governance and visibility over the remote access life cycle.
When a person answers a phone call, they have full control over when a third-party has access to them and for how long. Just-in-time access works the same way for privileged resources, granting users access only for the task at hand and revoking it afterwards. No standing privileges, and no unregistered access.
PAM tools can work like a bouncer at the door, only giving verified users access without handing them the keys to the place. It provisions access without exposing passwords and keeps privileged resources secure while not slowing down workflows.
Every privileged session must be monitored, and every action taken during these sessions must be logged. This is important for a multitude of reasons, spanning from incident response times and identifying misuse to meeting compliance requirements. Remote privileged access management makes this possible by enabling real-time session recording and monitoring, irrespective of where users access resources from.
Remote PAM has become another essential for organizations to add to their cybersecurity portfolio. ManageEngine PAM360, a privileged access management tool, brings both in-house and remote access controls under one roof, ensuring increased control and visibility over privileged access, without slowing down workflows. Among other features, PAM360 supports:
With PAM360, remote users can launch direct terminal sessions to connect to an organization's endpoints, using secure channels like SSH and RDP. Administrators can control what endpoints these users are given access to, when and for how long, increasing control and transparency over remote sessions.
As part of its remote PAM capabilities, PAM360 records and stores all privileged sessions launched through its web console. This enables administrators to have complete visibility over privileged sessions while also catering to compliance with regulatory standards.
While privilege remote sessions are in progress, PAM360 enables administrators to join and monitor them in real time, giving them the ability to terminate these sessions if they identify suspicious activity. Moreover, administrators can also interact with users to provide support or additional instructions.
PAM360 Remote Connect is a desktop client for Windows designed to facilitate direct remote access to Windows and SSH-based target resources without the need for separate remote clients or web browsers. As a desktop client, it streamlines the remote access process into a consistent and secured one.
Remote access covers any connection to manage a system remotely. Remote desktop and remote support specifically let you control or help view another user’s screen.
Use strong passwords, MFA, and role-based access controls. Regularly review and limit who has remote access permissions.
You can immediately terminate active sessions from the administrator dashboard. Admins can also disable user accounts or access permissions instantly.