Nowadays safeguarding sensitive information and ensuring secure access to resources is very important for organizations. As businesses increasingly adopt digital solutions, managing access to critical systems has become more complex. Two key security concepts that play a vital role in this regard are Identity and Access Management (IAM) and Privileged Access Management (PAM). While both aim to control access, they differ in scope, purpose, and the level of security they provide. This article explores the fundamental differences between IAM and PAM, and how they can be used in your security strategy.

What is Identity and Access Management IAM?

Identity and access management (IAM) is a framework, policies and technologies that manage the digital identities. We use IAM to control user access to critical information, Databases, or applications within the organizations. 

Many tools or technologies can be used for IAM include single sign-on systems, two-factor authentication, multifactor authentication and privileged access management or PAM. 

These technologies also provide the ability to securely store identity and profile data as well as data governance functions to ensure that only data that is necessary and relevant is shared.

IAM systems can be deployed on-prem or in cloud as well.

What is Privileged Access Management PAM?

As we mentioned before, PAM is a subset of IAM, taking care of access specifically to sensitive resources and critical services.

In so many companies you can find that specific employees only can access a specific data, and IT managers can give a privileged access to some executive to access the files and systems under them.

Implementing a PAM system helps organizations effectively monitor the entire network and provides insight into which users have access to what data, that’s why A PAM system is one of the best ways for an organization to protect against external threats by preventing malicious parties from accessing sensitive corporate data through internal accounts.

Key Difference and use cases

Both IAM and PAM can be used to secure the access to the organization information and they seem that they are similar, but the main difference between them is that IAM focuses on controlling access to a broader range of resources, such as applications, data, and services, for all types of users within an organization. IAM solutions provide centralized and automated tools to manage user authentication, authorization, and identity provisioning, including password policies, single sign-on (SSO), multi-factor authentication (MFA), and role-based access control (RBAC)(1)

While PAM deals with managing privileged access to critical systems, applications, and data.

PAM tools provide features such as session recording, password rotation, workflow approval, and just-in-time (JIT) access, to reduce the risk of insider threats and external attacks that exploit privileged credentials (1).

The table below shows the main difference between IAM and PAM:

Use Cases

Conclusion

As we saw, IAM focuses on managing access for all users across an organization, while PAM mainly secure and control privileged access to sensitive systems and data. Both IAM and PAM are essential components of a comprehensive security and implementing them together help organizations to minimize the risk and compliance with the industry standards and regulations.