Third-party vendors are essential to organizations, but each vendor an organization adds widens its attack surface and can introduce various security risks, such as data leaks or data breaches. To effectively manage vendor access and prevent security threats, organizations must conduct thorough vendor risk assessments, implement least-privilege access, establish clear vendor access policies, require MFA, log vendor activity, update vendor access and ensure vendors comply with industry standards.

Privileged Access Management (PAM) is a subset of Identity and Access Management (IAM) that specifically addresses controlling access for users who work with the most sensitive systems and data within an organization, such as IT, information security and DevOps personnel. Among other tasks, PAM enforces the principle of least privilege, which grants users the minimum level of systems and data access they need to do their jobs.

According to the 2024 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, 75% of cyber attacks involve exploiting compromised privileged credentials, making privileged access one of the most sought-after attack vectors. Additionally, 60% of organizations cite insider threats as the primary cause of data breaches, highlighting the critical need to secure privileged accounts against both external and internal threats.

Integrating Privileged Access Management (PAM) with Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions offers many benefits for organizations, including enhanced threat detection, improved visibility, reduced risk of insider threats, simplified compliance and more. Continue reading to learn more about the benefits of integrating PAM with SIEM solutions and best practices for integrating the two.

Organizations are prioritizing a Privileged Access Management (PAM) strategy to prevent cybercriminals from accessing privileged accounts and conducting malicious activities. A key component of this strategy is securely managing privileged access requests and ensuring that access is granted only when necessary, properly authenticated and monitored in real time.

On January 16, 2025, an Executive Order 14144 was issued, aimed at strengthening the nation’s cybersecurity defenses. This order comes at a crucial time – during the fiscal year 2023, U.S. federal agencies reported over 32,000 cybersecurity incidents, reflecting a 5% increase from the previous year.

The top cyber threats facing the manufacturing industry are ransomware, supply chain attacks, insider threats, phishing and social engineering attacks. In 2023, the manufacturing sector accounted for 25% of all cyber attacks, making it the most targeted industry. As the manufacturing industry increasingly relies on the Internet of Things (IoT) to improve efficiency and productivity, addressing security risks has become essential.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has recognized that Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and Operational Technology (OT) environments represent one of the largest threats to American critical infrastructure. The increasing convergence of IT and OT systems, combined with the rise of ransomware attacks targeting critical infrastructure and the growing sophistication of nation-state threats, has created unprecedented security challenges.

As a former federal CISO, I’ve observed a persistent and dangerous misconception within government agencies: the belief that smart card authentication eliminates the need for enterprise password and Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions. This assumption creates critical security vulnerabilities that deserve closer examination.

Service accounts are nonhuman privileged accounts used by systems or applications to perform certain tasks, access resources or run processes. These accounts are typically given only the permissions they need for a specific job. According to ReliaQuest, 85% of data breaches between January 2024 and July 2024 that organizations responded to involved compromised service accounts. To prevent the misuse of credentials, organizations should secure their service accounts.