The Role of PAM in Building Cyber Resilience

What is Cyber Resilience?

Cyber resilience is an organisation’s ability to continuously deliver intended outcomes despite adverse security incidents. It encompasses the capacity to prepare for, respond to, recover from, and adapt to cyber threats ensuring the protection and recovery of information systems.

Cyber resilience goes beyond traditional cybersecurity measures.

While cybersecurity focuses on building solid defences against threats, cyber resilience covers a broader approach that ensures continuous business operations despite successful breaches. It involves a comprehensive approach that includes business continuity, disaster recovery, and incident response strategies.

A robust cyber resilience framework typically includes the following capabilities:

Protection: Implementing appropriate and adequate security measures to protect all systems, applications, and data from unauthorised access.
Detection: Continuous monitoring and attack surface management are employed to identify malicious or unintentional threats at early stages.
Recoverability: Developing and implementing detailed incident response plans and infrastructure redundancies to ensure timely recovery from incidents.
Adaptability: Learning from incidents and integrating lessons learned into policies and procedures for continuous improvement.

The Key Components of Cyber Resilience

Risk Management

Effective risk management is a cornerstone of cyber resilience. It involves:

Identifying potential threats and vulnerabilities
Assessing the possible impacts of these risks
Implementing measures to mitigate or minimise these risks
Continuously monitoring and reassessing the risk landscape

Organisations must adopt a proactive approach to risk management, regularly updating their strategies to address emerging threats.

Incident Response

A well-crafted incident response plan is crucial for minimising the impact of cyber incidents. Key elements include:

Clear roles and responsibilities for team members
Step-by-step procedures for different types of incidents
Communication protocols for internal and external stakeholders
Regular testing and updating of the plan

The development of an incident response playbook is a critical element of cyber resilience. It ensures that every part of the organisation understands its role during a crisis.

Backup and Recovery

Organisations must implement robust data backup strategies and regularly test their recovery processes. They ensure:

Data is restored quickly in case of a breach or system failure
The confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information are maintained

Business continuity in the face of disruptive events

Continuous Monitoring

Continuous monitoring for early threat detection and rapid response is essential. This involves:

Implementing advanced threat detection tools
Real-time monitoring of network and system activities
Automated alerts for suspicious activities
Rapid response protocols for identified threats

Early detection of cyber threats provides the best chance to stop them before significant damage is done.

How to Enhance Enterprise Cyber Resilience?

Employee Awareness and Training

Provide regular cybersecurity training to all employees
Conduct simulated phishing exercises for employee awareness
Keep staff up to date on the latest cyber threats and best practices
Foster a culture where cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility

Technology Infrastructure

Implementing secure network architecture
Employing network segmentation to limit the spread of potential breaches
Using strong encryption for data at rest and in transit
Regularly updating and patching systems and software

Third-Party Risk Management

Conducting thorough due diligence before engaging with new vendors
Regularly assessing the security posture of existing partners (the applications they use and their endpoint devices).
Implementing strong contractual security requirements
Monitoring third-party access to systems and data

Regulatory Compliance

Stay informed about relevant cybersecurity regulations in their industry
Implement processes to ensure ongoing compliance
Regularly audit their compliance status
Use compliance requirements as a baseline for their security practices

The Role of Privileged Access Management (PAM)

Privileged Access Management (PAM) enhances an organisation’s cybersecurity resilience in many ways. It is part of a suite of cybersecurity tools and technologies that support resilience by controlling and monitoring access to privileged accounts, often targeted by cybercriminals.

Threat actors perceive enterprise privileged accounts as gold mines for all the business-critical data, Intellectual Property (IP) details and network control they possess.

By implementing PAM, organisations can:

Reduce the risk of insider threats
Limit the potential damage from external attacks
Maintain compliance with various regulations
Enhance overall visibility into privileged activities

Critical capabilities of an ideal PAM include:

Third-Party Risk Management

PAM can significantly mitigate risks associated with third-party access by:

Providing granular control over vendor access to systems
Monitoring and recording third-party activity
Enabling just-in-time access provisioning
Facilitating easy revocation of access when no longer needed

Remote Device Security

With the rise of remote work, PAM plays a crucial role in securing access from remote devices:

Enforcing multi-factor authentication for remote access
Providing secure remote access without traditional VPNs to secure remote device communications
Enabling session monitoring for remote privileged activities
Ensuring consistent security policies across all access points

User Activity Monitoring

PAM offers robust user activity monitoring capabilities:

Real-time monitoring of privileged user activity
Alerting on suspicious event logs
Providing detailed audit trails for all privileged sessions
Enabling rapid detection and response to potential threats

Session Recording

Session recording is a key feature of an ideal PAM solution, offering:

Full video recording of privileged sessions
Searchable session logs for forensic analysis
Real-time intervention capabilities during active sessions
Compliance support through comprehensive session documentation

Incident Response

In the event of a security incident, a PAM solution can support rapid and effective response by:

Quickly identifying and isolating compromised accounts
Providing detailed logs for incident investigation
Enabling rapid change of privileged credentials
Supporting post-incident analysis and improvement of security measures

In addition, a Privileged Access Management tool can be integrated with SIEM systems for greater visibility and control.

About Sectona Security Platform

Building a cybersecurity resilience strategy is no longer optional in today’s complex and evolving cyber threat landscape. Privileged Access Management plays a crucial role in this strategy, offering powerful tools for managing and securing critical access points within an organisation.

By leveraging technologies like Sectona PAM, organisations can significantly enhance their ability to withstand, respond to, and recover from cyber incidents.

Now is the time to act!

Discover how Sectona PAM’s comprehensive features, including secure session management, password vaulting, and Multi-Factor Authentication, can boost your organisation’s cyber resilience.

Contact Sectona’s team of access security experts to explore more about reducing the attack surface and enhancing cyber resilience with PAM.