Quick Links
Get started
Resources
PAM360 Literature
PAM Thought Leadership
Compare
Zero Trust is a security framework that mandates continuous verification and authorization of all users trying to access enterprise resources in order to prevent unauthorized access. This mandated process ensures that users and devices are never trusted by default, even if they are connected to the enterprise network. This "never trust, always verify" approach helps you identify malicious and suspicious activities and block them in real time, something that may not be possible with the traditional perimeter-based approach.
In the traditional approach, users and devices gain unrestricted access to IT resources within the network perimeter. Thus, if an attacker gains access to the enterprise network, they can move laterally within it and gain access to critical resources and data, thereby widening the threat landscape. This is why Zero Trust is important for the modern enterprise.
Zero Trust is a holistic approach that aims to provide blanket security for an enterprise. It is solution-agnostic and must be implemented across the enterprise's infrastructure. By adopting the Zero Trust framework globally, you can perform risk profiling on your critical resources and take a risk-based approach to IT security management. This allows admins to enforce additional restrictions on a select few critical systems and accounts, protecting them from internal and external threats and thereby minimizing the possibility of data breaches. Thus, to implement an effective Zero Trust model, you must adopt solutions that incorporate Zero Trust principles.
PAM solutions play a pivotal role in organizational security by regulating access to critical IT infrastructures. Without Zero Trust PAM solutions, any Zero Trust strategy would be incomplete. Additionally, the ever-evolving access management requirements of the modern, hybrid workforce makes Zero Trust principles essential in PAM solutions. These principles involve least privilege access, continuous monitoring, risk profiling, access moderation, and session management, which enterprises can use to scrutinize access to privileged accounts and devices and enforce Zero Trust privilege across the organization.
Zero Trust privilege is a security model that helps regulate privileged access using the core principles of Zero Trust. This approach requires enterprises to assume that all privileged users and devices are potential threat actors that must be scrutinized with continuous authentication and authorization. By risk profiling user actions and resources in real time, organizations can take a proactive approach to PAM and go beyond validating privileged access based on just user roles and requirements.
PAM solutions that adopt Zero Trust privilege help organizations implement contextual, dynamic security controls that enforce least privilege access; identify potential threats and malicious user activities in real time; minimize privilege abuse; and instantly invalidate access or trigger automated actions.
While Zero Trust and the principle of least privilege (PoLP) both help enhance enterprise security, they have their differences. The PoLP dictates that users gain no more than the access privileges required to perform their assigned tasks. This is to ensure that even if an account gets compromised, the attacker will have minimal scope for any potential exploit.
Zero Trust, on the other hand, is a holistic approach that extends beyond just access validation. It factors in various aspects of the organization's infrastructure and data, involving continuous authentication and authorization across all these layers. Thus, while least privilege access is the foundation for a solid Zero Trust approach, it is only one part of the overarching concept of Zero Trust.
By adopting Zero Trust principles in your PAM strategy, you can:
The right Zero Trust PAM approach may vary based on the size, scale, and needs of each organization. However, you can ensure the following with your PAM solution when considering a Zero Trust PAM approach:
Identify every user's access privileges and map them with their access requirements. Identify excess privileges and moderate access accordingly.
Create a list of mission-critical IT resources that require additional layers of security. Revoke all standing privileges to these resources.
Provide time-restricted, on-demand access to privileged accounts. Automatically provision and deprovision privileged access using a request-release workflow to enforce least privilege access.
Identify the risks associated with users and devices based on their actions and integrity, respectively.
Continuously authorize users by enforcing adaptive MFA when behavioral anomalies are detected.
Create custom access policies to protect your critical resources. Set up policy restrictions that prevent unauthorized access, restrict users from performing malicious actions, alert stakeholders about critical actions, and do even more.
Adopt an attribute-based access control (ABAC) process for a fine-grained approach to access management.
Although Zero Trust PAM is the way ahead, it comes with some challenges, such as:
Although the concept of Zero Trust has been around for a while, the rate of adoption of Zero Trust principles is still low due to a lack of awareness. Large-scale awareness campaigns are required to make the transition seamless and effective.
The transition from a perimeter-based approach to a perimeterless approach requires a significant change in mindset, and this can be a stumbling block in some cases. The addition of friction to existing mechanisms might not be welcomed by many due to reasons such as a fear of business disruption and an aversion to new processes.
Without the right tools and expertise, adopting a Zero Trust PAM strategy can be a complex, costly affair. Finding the right Zero Trust PAM solution will be a key factor.
Consider a scenario in which access to a critical database server needs to be protected. A traditional PAM solution can securely grant access to relevant users, but only on an all-or-nothing basis. While this does streamline otherwise siloed access management policies, it also gives rise to standing privileges, which may eventually lead to privilege abuse or accidental misuse.
In contrast, a Zero Trust PAM solution grants least privilege access by implementing just in time (JIT) access controls. This ensures that access to sensitive credentials is only granted temporarily based on need and that it is then automatically revoked. Additionally, with features such as privileged session monitoring, Zero Trust PAM solutions give admins the option to terminate the sessions of users who carry malicious intent.
Beyond just solidifying access management for internal users, Zero Trust PAM solutions also constantly monitor user activities and device risks to enforce continuous user authentication in the form of adaptive MFA. These solutions can even perform automated actions, such as session termination and access revocation. Thus, Zero Trust PAM solutions go beyond basic access regulation to offer granular controls for threat mitigation. If you are caught between traditional PAM and Zero Trust PAM, always choose a Zero Trust PAM solution.
Most of the technical challenges can be addressed if you find the right Zero Trust PAM solution for your enterprise. If you are looking to switch to a Zero-Trust-ready PAM solution, find one that offers the following:
Request-release workflows are a key part of every good PAM solution and the first step in adopting Zero Trust principles. They are essential in provisioning limited, on-demand access to privileged credentials. With such limitations in place, users must request access from the relevant stakeholders by stating their access requirements. If their reasons are found to be valid, they will gain time-limited access to the relevant resources.
Often, users require temporary access to privileged credentials or groups to perform business-critical tasks. In such cases, without the right practices in place, these users may gain standing privileges to these credentials. A PAM solution that offers privilege elevation and delegation management (PEDM) capabilities streamlines this process without causing business disruptions by automating privilege escalation and demotion. Controls such as JIT privilege elevation facilitate temporary privilege escalation without users gaining access to credentials with higher privileges. This helps you adopt the PoLP across the enterprise, without which a Zero Trust PAM approach would be incomplete.
In addition to PEDM, the ideal Zero Trust PAM solution must offer command- and application-level filtering. Command controls prevent users from running unauthorized, sensitive commands. Such controls can either allowlist or blocklist commands that can be executed, thereby preventing potentially destructive actions. Additionally, using application controls, you can give users access enough to perform just the action required.
Privileged session management features, such as session monitoring and recording, are vital to identifying malicious threats. These features enable security admins to shadow sessions in real time and remotely terminate any sessions they deem harmful.
Behavioral analytics and continuous monitoring are core functions of Zero Trust PAM solutions. They help you identify and isolate anomalous activities in the organization. User and entity behavior analytics helps define baselines for permitted actions. By risk profiling users and devices, you can proactively identify and act on any detected deviations before they turn into potential threats.
A risk-based approach to PAM is only effective if you set up custom policies in the solution that trigger automated actions when anomalous activities are performed. A PAM solution that offers policy-based access controls continuously assesses the risk factors associated with users, accounts, and devices and triggers contextual, adaptive actions. This elevates your organization's overall security while eliminating the need for manual intervention.
In addition to the features above, security capabilities such as real-time audits, contextual alerts, MFA, and syslog integration will also bolster your Zero Trust PAM approach.
If your existing PAM solution does not help you take a Zero Trust approach to PAM, switch to a Zero Trust PAM solution like ManageEngine PAM360. PAM360 is ManageEngine's PAM offering built for the digital enterprise. Our solution takes a comprehensive approach to Zero Trust and offers all the core Zero Trust PAM features.
If you are just getting started with implementing Zero Trust PAM in your enterprise, see how PAM360 has all your bases covered. Also, connect with our product experts to learn how you can take your first step.
Implement Zero Trust PAM by eliminating implicit trust and enforcing continuous verification for all privileged access regardless of user location or network. Start with comprehensive privileged account discovery, then deploy MFA and risk-based authentication that evaluates device posture, user behavior, and contextual signals before granting access. Implement Just-in-Time access provisioning to eliminate standing privileges, and enable real-time session monitoring with automated threat detection. Integrate behavioral analytics to continuously assess trust scores during sessions, automatically terminating access when anomalies are detected or risk thresholds are exceeded.
The best Zero Trust PAM solution depends on your specific environment, infrastructure mix (on-premises, cloud, hybrid), and security maturity level. Leading solutions offer adaptive authentication, continuous risk assessment, JIT provisioning, behavioral analytics, and comprehensive session monitoring across diverse platforms. Evaluate vendors based on their ability to integrate with your existing identity providers, SIEM systems, and cloud platforms while supporting your specific use cases. Consider solutions with strong API capabilities, automation features, scalability for your organization size, and vendor commitment to evolving Zero Trust capabilities rather than bolted-on features.
Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM) in Zero Trust removes local admin rights from endpoints while allowing users to perform necessary elevated tasks through controlled privilege elevation. It enforces least privilege on workstations by evaluating each application launch or command execution request against policies that consider user identity, device health, application reputation, and risk context. EPM integrates with Zero Trust frameworks by continuously validating endpoint compliance before allowing privileged operations, and it blocks unauthorized privilege escalation attempts automatically. This approach prevents malware from leveraging local admin rights while maintaining user productivity through intelligent privilege elevation.
The best Zero Trust approach for cloud privileged access combines identity-centric controls with continuous verification across multi-cloud environments including AWS, Azure, GCP, and SaaS platforms. Implement cloud-native PAM that integrates with cloud IAM services, enforces JIT access with automatic role assumption and revocation, and monitors privileged actions through cloud audit logs. Deploy agentless or API-based PAM solutions that can manage ephemeral cloud resources, containerized workloads, and serverless functions without infrastructure overhead. Leading tools offer unified policy management across hybrid environments, automated discovery of cloud privileged accounts, and real-time session monitoring for cloud admin consoles.
Dynamic access control evaluates multiple contextual factors in real-time—including user identity, device posture, location, time, risk score, and behavioral patterns—before granting privileged access. PAM solutions integrate with identity providers, endpoint detection systems, and threat intelligence feeds to continuously assess risk throughout the access lifecycle. Policies automatically adjust access permissions, MFA requirements, session monitoring intensity, and allowed actions based on current risk levels rather than static rules. Machine learning models detect anomalies in privileged user behavior, triggering step-up authentication, session termination, or access restrictions when deviations from normal patterns occur.
Zero Trust PAM applies the "never trust, always verify" principle to privileged access by eliminating implicit trust based on network location or prior authentication. It continuously validates user identity, device security posture, and behavioral context throughout privileged sessions rather than just at initial login. Zero Trust PAM enforces least privilege through JIT access, monitors sessions in real-time for anomalies, and dynamically adjusts permissions based on risk assessment. This approach assumes breach and treats every privileged access request as potentially compromised, implementing micro-segmentation and granular controls to prevent lateral movement.
The five pillars of Zero Trust are: Identity (verify and authenticate all users and non-human identities continuously), Devices (assess endpoint security posture and compliance before granting access), Networks (implement micro-segmentation and never trust network location alone), Applications and Workloads (protect and control access to all applications regardless of hosting location), and Data (classify, protect, and control data access based on sensitivity). Some frameworks include additional pillars like Visibility and Analytics for continuous monitoring, or Automation and Orchestration for policy enforcement. These pillars work together to eliminate implicit trust and enforce verification at every access point.
Zero Trust PAM addresses the implicit trust traditional PAM grants after initial authentication, which allows compromised sessions to continue undetected until logout. It eliminates the security gap where traditional PAM monitors but doesn't actively intervene during suspicious privileged session behavior in real-time. Zero Trust PAM solves the challenge of managing privileged access across cloud, hybrid, and remote environments where network perimeter controls are ineffective. Traditional PAM's static access policies can't adapt to changing risk contexts, while Zero Trust PAM dynamically adjusts permissions based on continuous risk assessment and behavioral anomalies.
Continuous verification monitors user behavior, command patterns, accessed resources, and system interactions throughout privileged sessions against established baselines and risk models. Zero Trust PAM evaluates biometric signals, keystroke dynamics, mouse movements, and session timing to detect anomalous behavior indicating account compromise or insider threat. Real-time integration with threat intelligence, SIEM alerts, and security events enables immediate risk score adjustments that trigger step-up authentication or session termination. Session context including time of day, access location, device posture, and accessed data sensitivity is continuously assessed against policies that adapt to changing risk levels.
A trust score is a dynamic numerical value representing the current risk level associated with a user's privileged session based on multiple contextual factors. It incorporates signals including authentication strength, device compliance, user behavior patterns, accessed resources, time/location context, and real-time threat intelligence. As the trust score decreases due to anomalous behavior or environmental changes, Zero Trust PAM automatically enforces progressively restrictive controls—from increased monitoring to step-up authentication to immediate session termination. Trust scores enable granular, risk-based access decisions that balance security with operational needs, allowing low-risk sessions more freedom while heavily restricting high-risk activity.
Zero Trust PAM keeps privileged accounts disabled or de-provisioned by default, creating temporary credentials only when users submit access requests with business justification. Automated workflows route requests through approval chains that verify necessity and validate requestor identity before provisioning time-limited privileges aligned with specific tasks. Credentials automatically expire after the defined access window or task completion, with the system immediately rotating passwords and removing elevated permissions. Integration with ticketing systems provides audit context for each access grant, while continuous session monitoring ensures JIT privileges aren't abused during the temporary access period.
Micro authorizations require explicit approval for individual high-risk commands or actions within privileged sessions rather than granting blanket administrative access. Zero Trust PAM intercepts and evaluates each privileged operation—such as accessing sensitive data, modifying security configurations, or executing destructive commands—against granular policies before allowing execution. Users may need to provide additional authentication, obtain real-time approval from managers, or provide business justification for specific actions even after establishing a privileged session. This prevents privilege abuse by ensuring elevated permissions don't automatically permit all administrative actions, stopping unauthorized activities like data exfiltration or malicious system changes.
Real-time monitoring captures all session activity including commands executed, files accessed, configuration changes, and user behavior patterns for continuous risk assessment. Machine learning algorithms compare current session behavior against user baselines and peer groups, automatically flagging deviations like unusual commands, off-hours access, or sensitive data access. When predefined risk thresholds are exceeded or malicious activity is detected, Zero Trust PAM can automatically pause sessions for manual review, require step-up authentication, or immediately terminate sessions and revoke credentials. Security teams receive instant alerts with full session context, enabling rapid incident response while comprehensive recordings support forensic investigation.
Zero Trust PAM integrates with cloud IAM services across AWS, Azure, GCP, and SaaS platforms through APIs to manage privileged roles, discover cloud accounts, and enforce access policies. It provides unified credential vaulting and JIT access for cloud admin consoles, CLI tools, and infrastructure-as-code pipelines without requiring agents on ephemeral cloud resources. Cloud-native PAM solutions monitor privileged API calls, database admin access, and control plane operations across multiple cloud providers through a single interface. Integration with cloud audit logs, identity providers, and security services enables comprehensive visibility and control over multi-cloud privileged access with consistent policy enforcement.
Behavioral analytics establish normal patterns for each privileged user including typical login times, accessed systems, executed commands, session duration, and data interactions. Machine learning models detect anomalies such as unusual access times, atypical command sequences, access from new locations, or deviations from role-based expected behavior. Risk-based policies automatically adjust security controls based on calculated risk scores—low-risk sessions may require standard MFA while high-risk scenarios trigger additional verification, manager approval, or increased monitoring. Continuous learning improves detection accuracy over time, reducing false positives while identifying sophisticated threats that bypass static rule-based detection.
Zero Trust PAM enables privileged access from unmanaged devices through browser-based or clientless access methods that don't require agent installation on endpoints. Agentless PAM solutions broker privileged connections through secure gateways, preventing direct credential exposure to potentially compromised contractor devices while maintaining full session monitoring. Device posture assessment validates endpoint security compliance including antivirus status, patch levels, encryption, and firewall configuration before granting access from remote locations. Privileged session isolation through virtual desktop infrastructure or remote browser isolation ensures sensitive administrative tools and credentials never touch unmanaged endpoints directly.