The start of a new year is the perfect time to reset your priorities, tighten controls, and reduce unnecessary risk to set your business up for success in 2026. However, one area many small and midsize businesses like yours overlook is privileged access management.
What is privileged access management?
Privileged access management (PAM) is the practice of controlling, monitoring, and securing accounts that have elevated permissions across your systems. Elevated permissions means that the account can install software, modify configurations, access sensitive data, and bypass standard security controls. Administrator accounts, IT service accounts, database admins, and cloud root users typically have privileged access.
Because privileged accounts have broad access, they are a prime target for cybercriminals. If a cybercriminal gains access to one of these accounts, they can move freely through your network, disable security tools, and extract sensitive information with little resistance. PAM tools and best practices limit this risk by:
- Enforcing least-privilege access
- Rotating credentials
- Logging access activity in detail
- Requiring additional authentication for sensitive actions
A business with up-to-date PAM practices is better positioned to protect data, support compliance, and reduce internal risk.
Why you need a PAM review this year
Over time, privileged access tends to sprawl, creating cybersecurity risk. Employees change roles, vendors come and go, systems are added, and permissions accumulate without proper cleanup. A PAM review helps you identify who has access, why they have it, and whether it’s still necessary.
Many data breaches are caused by stolen admin credentials that were never rotated or monitored, so they were easily taken without anyone noticing. Without visibility into privileged activity, an attacker with stolen credentials could remain in your network and steal data for weeks or months.
Starting the year without reviewing privileged access increases your exposure to insider threats, credential theft, and ransomware attacks. You might also fail to meet compliance or insurance requirements that mandate privileged access monitoring and reporting, leading to fines and other increased costs.
The components of a successful privileged access management review
For an effective PAM review, you need to focus on visibility, control, and accountability. It starts with a complete inventory of privileged accounts across on-premise and cloud. This includes your user accounts, service accounts, application credentials, and any third-party access you granted to service providers, such as software vendors.
Once accounts are identified, permissions should be evaluated and reduced wherever possible; your most sensitive data should be accessible by the least amount of people possible while maintaining operations. Privileged access should only be granted when required and removed when no longer needed.
Every IT environment is different, but ensure your PAM review covers:
- Account inventory and ownership: Identify every privileged account and assign clear ownership.
- Access justification: Confirm that elevated permissions are absolutely necessary for each role.
- Credential hygiene: Enforce strong passwords, regular rotation, and eliminate shared credentials.
- Multifactor authentication (MFA): Require MFA for all privileged logins, without exception.
- Session monitoring and logging: Track privileged activity to detect misuse or compromise.
Keeping on top of best practices is vital, but you also need dedicated technology to protect privileged access. Fortunately, there are many dedicated PAM tools that can affordably centralize credential storage, automate password rotation, and record privileged sessions. These programs save you time and reduce the risk of errors compared to doing everything manually.
If you want a thorough PAM review with cutting-edge tools that keep you protected without costing excess time and effort, a managed IT services provider like XBASE can help. Our cybersecurity consultants can support your PAM review by identifying hidden risks, recommending best practices, and integrating PAM controls into your broader security strategy, all customized to your business. Contact us today.