Topic starter
16/01/2026 5:07 pm
TL;DR: Privileged identity management is presented as the control layer for elevated access, with StrongDM arguing that PIM should govern both people and machines, enforce least privilege, and keep audit trails around privileged actions according to StrongDM. The governance gap is that privileged access now spans NHIs as well as humans, so identity controls have to follow the account, not just the user.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by StrongDM: “What Is Privileged Identity Management (PIM)? 7 Best Practices”.
Key questions
A: When inventories are incomplete, teams lose the ability to review all high-risk access, so excessive privilege can persist unnoticed.
Q: Why does privileged access create more risk when it is not time-bounded?
A: Persistent privileged access increases the window in which stolen credentials, insider misuse, or administrative error can cause damage.
Q: How can security teams tell whether privileged access reviews are actually working?
A: They are working when every privileged entitlement is inventoried, every decision is traceable, and revoked access is removed from all connected systems without delay.
Practitioner guidance
- Audit privileged identities across humans and NHIs Build a complete inventory of accounts with elevated permissions, including service accounts, application accounts, and root or admin accounts.
- Separate PIM from PAM in your operating model Use PIM to govern what privileged identities already can do, and PAM to control how access is requested, time-bounded, and monitored.
- Replace standing privilege with task-scoped access Convert always-on elevated permissions into just-in-time access where the task and approval context justify it.
Bottom line: Privileged identity management is a governance model for elevated access, and it has to cover both human admins and non-human identities that hold powerful permissions.
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This topic was modified 5 days ago by NHI Mgmt Group
07/10/2026 9:39 pm
Privileged identity management has become a multi-actor governance problem, not a user-admin problem. The article is clear that PIM now governs both people and machines with elevated permissions, which means the control boundary has moved beyond human admin accounts. That shift matters because cloud access is increasingly mediated by service accounts, application identities, and root-level automation. Practitioners should treat privileged identity as a shared governance plane across human and non-human actors.
A few things that frame the scale:
- Only 36% of health IT leaders say their organisation applies a privileged access strategy consistently across the enterprise, according to Ponemon Institute research.
A question worth separating out:
Q: What is the difference between PIM and PAM for privileged access control?
A: PIM governs the privileged identity itself, while PAM governs the process of granting and monitoring elevated access. In practice, teams need both. PIM without PAM leaves activation paths weak, and PAM without PIM leaves permanent privilege unmanaged. The right model combines identity governance with request, approval, and session controls.
👉 Read our full editorial: Privileged identity management for NHI governance in modern cloud access