What's the difference among Privileged Identity management, Privileged Account Management, Privileged Access Management?

 What's the difference among Privileged Identity management, Privileged Account Management, Privileged Access Management?

hashtagThese three terms are closely related but have important differences. Here’s a clear breakdown:

1. Privileged Identity Management (PIM)

Focus: Managing the identities of privileged users (who they are).

Purpose: Controls who can have privileged roles and when they can activate them.

Key features:

• Just-in-time (JIT) privileged access (only get privileged access when needed).
• Approval workflows before giving access.
• Time-bound access (access automatically expires).
• Audit and reporting of privileged role activations.

Example: In Azure AD, PIM lets you activate the "Global Administrator" role only temporarily after approval.

Think of PIM as: “Managing who is privileged and when they are privileged.”

2. Privileged Account Management (PAMgt)

Focus: Managing the accounts that have privileged rights (the objects themselves).
Purpose: Ensures privileged accounts (like Administrator, root, sa) are properly secured and managed.

Key features:

• Inventory and lifecycle management of privileged accounts.
• Account credential rotation (password changing).
• Disabling unused privileged accounts.
• Vaulting passwords securely.

Example: Managing a shared root account on Linux servers, ensuring its password changes every 30 days and is only accessible via secure vault access.

Think of PAMgt as: “Managing the privileged accounts as assets.”

3. Privileged Access Management (PAM)

Focus: Managing access to systems using privileged rights (what they can do).

Purpose: Controls and monitors how privileged accounts access sensitive systems.

Key features:

• Session recording and monitoring (watching privileged sessions).
• Credential injection (users never see the actual password).
• Least privilege enforcement (users only get exactly what they need).
• Risk-based access controls.

Example: A user can open a secure connection to a database via PAM without ever seeing or knowing the database admin password.

Think of PAM as: “Controlling and securing how privileged accounts are used.”

Real World Scenario 

Here’s a real-world example that ties all three (hashtag#PIM, hashtag#PAMgt, hashtag#PAM) together

Scenario: Managing Admin Access to a Cloud Environment

You have a company that manages its services on Azure and on-premises servers. You have a small team of IT admins who sometimes need Global Admin privileges or root access to servers.

Privileged Identity Management (hashtag#PIM)

• Admins are not permanent Global Administrators.
• Instead, they are eligible for the role, but they must request activation through PIM.
• They get access for a limited time (e.g., 1 hour) after:
• Requesting activation
• Getting manager approval
• Solving a multi-factor authentication (#MFA) challenge

Result: No one holds dangerous privileges full-time — only when needed.

Example:
Alice needs to manage Azure settings. She requests "Global Admin" rights via Azure PIM. She’s approved for a 1-hour window, and it automatically expires.

Privileged Account Management (hashtag#PAMgt)

• You have several shared privileged accounts, like:
•  `root` on Linux servers
•  `Domain Admin` in Active Directory
• These accounts' passwords are stored in a secure vault (like CyberArk, BeyondTrust, or Azure Key Vault).
• Password rotation happens every 24 hours automatically, even if unused.
• Access to these passwords is highly restricted and audited.

Example: The password for the `root` user is auto-rotated daily, and admins never manually know or manage the password themselves.

Privileged Access Management (hashtag#PAM)

• Instead of giving the actual passwords to admins, they connect to servers through a PAM solution.
• Credential injection happens — the PAM platform logs them into systems without showing the password.
• All privileged sessions are monitored and recorded for security auditing.
• If risky behavior is detected (e.g., trying to download files from a database), access can be automatically terminated.

Example: Bob needs to restart a production server. He connects through a PAM session, his actions are recorded, and he never sees the server's password.

Timeline

Step ->What Happens ->Which Concept?

1. -> Alice requests Global Admin role-> PIM
2. -> Alice's access auto-expires after task ->PIM
3. -> Root account password rotates every day -> PAMgt
4. ->Bob connects to Linux server without knowing password -> PAM
5. -> Bob’s entire session is recorded for audit -> PAM

Summary

• Privileged Identity Management (PIM) : Who is privileged Control who becomes privileged and when
• Privileged Account Management (PAMgt) : Accounts that are privileged Manage and secure privileged accounts themselves
• Privileged Access Management (PAM) : Access using privilege Control and monitor how privilege is used

Why all three are needed together:

•  PIM protects against unnecessary standing privileges.
•  PAMgt ensures sensitive accounts stay secured and rotated.
•  PAM ensures all privileged actions are tightly controlled and monitored.

In short:

hashtag

• #PIM = Control who and when
• #PAMgt = Manage accounts
• #PAM = Secure access and usage