The Hidden Gaps in PAM: Why Traditional Privileged Access Strategies are Failing Modern Enterprises

Privileged Access Management (PAM) is a foundational element of modern cybersecurity, designed to control and monitor accounts with elevated permissions such as system administrators or service accounts that have access to sensitive data and critical infrastructure. Despite its significance, numerous organizations continue to overlook vital aspects of privileged access management, leading to severe security breaches.

Insider threats further highlight the critical importance of robust PAM strategies. In 2023, Tesla experienced a significant data breach when two former employees misappropriated confidential information, including names, contact details, and Social Security numbers of over 75,000 current and former employees. The breach was facilitated by lapses in access controls, allowing the insiders to exfiltrate approximately 100GB of sensitive data.

This case illustrates that without comprehensive PAM strategies including discovery, least privilege enforcement, real-time monitoring, and continuous policy adjustments organizations remain vulnerable to both external attacks and insider misuse.

The Illusion of “Set and Forget”

Many organizations deploy PAM tools and assume the job is done, but this mindset is dangerously misleading. Static access policies and overprivileged accounts often go unnoticed, especially as employees change roles or systems evolve. Without regular audits and dynamic policy updates, privileged access quickly drifts from what’s necessary to what’s risky.

Visibility is another blind spot: IT teams struggle to track entitlement changes, manage third-party access, and create a unified view across environments. This lack of real-time insight gives attackers a long runway to exploit forgotten or misconfigured privileges. PAM isn’t a one-time setup, it requires continuous monitoring, session logging, and automated reviews to stay effective and enforce the principle of least privilege.

Common Gaps in Traditional Privileged Access Management (PAM) Solutions

Despite its critical role, traditional PAM implementation gaps often leave dangerous blind spots. One major gap is the failure to monitor service accounts. These non-human identities typically have broad, persistent privileges and are rarely rotated or audited. Many organizations still manage them manually, making them prone to errors and invisible misuse.

Another overlooked area is unmanaged session activity. Without real-time monitoring and session recording, malicious or accidental misuse of privileged accounts can go undetected until damage is done. Infrequent audits also contribute to risk. According to the Verizon 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report, over 50% of breaches go undetected for months often due to stale, overprivileged accounts that persist long after they’re needed.

Lastly, as companies shift to hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructures, lack of policy consistency becomes a major issue. Gartner notes that traditional PAM tools struggle to enforce unified controls across cloud environments, creating fragmented access management and increased risk of privilege escalation.

These gaps highlight the need for adaptive, continuous PAM strategies that address modern identity complexities.

What Modern Enterprises Need from Privileged Access Management (PAM)

To keep pace with today’s dynamic threat landscape, modern enterprises need a more intelligent and adaptive approach to Privileged Access Management (PAM).

It begins with continuous privilege discovery, it automatically identifies and tracks all privileged accounts, including user, service, application, and shared accounts. This visibility is essential to eliminate hidden access points and reduce unmanaged privilege risks.

Modern PAM must also integrate with SIEM and SOAR platforms to support real-time threat detection and response. By feeding privileged access events into your security ecosystem, suspicious behaviors can trigger automated workflows to isolate threats and minimize dwell time.

Session recording and behavioral analytics provide deep visibility into what privileged users are doing. Capturing every action from keystrokes to file transfers, helps detect anomalies and provides forensic evidence in the event of a breach.

How to Fix What’s Broken

Fixing PAM starts with eliminating static, manual processes and replacing them with automation and real-time controls. Begin by automating access reviews to ensure privileges are continuously aligned with user roles and quickly revoked when no longer needed. Tools like Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) systems streamline these reviews and reduce human error.

Next, enforce least privilege by granting only the minimum access necessary for each role. Role-based access control (RBAC) and automation help ensure these policies are applied consistently.

Monitor every privileged session to detect suspicious activity as it happens. Session recordings and behavioral alerts allow security teams to intervene immediately, supporting both compliance and incident response.

Finally, adopt Just-in-Time (JIT) access to eliminate standing privileges. Grant access only when needed, for only as long as necessary, then revoke it automatically. Just-in-Time (JIT) access helps prevent privilege abuse by granting elevated permissions only when they’re needed and only for a limited time. By eliminating standing privileges, JIT significantly reduces the attack surface, making it harder for malicious actors to exploit unused or unnecessary access.

Conclusion

PAM failures rarely stem from a lack of tools, they happen due to poor implementation, static policies, and overlooked risks. Now’s the time to assess your PAM posture. Are your privileged accounts truly monitored, or just assumed safe? Continuous improvement, automation, and real-time visibility are essential. Don’t wait for a breach to expose the gaps, contact TechDemocracy to evaluate and strengthen your PAM strategy.