Notifications
Clear all
Topic starter
17/08/2026 4:41 pm
TL;DR: Privileged access management is being pushed beyond traditional remote admin use cases as hybrid work, cloud entitlements, and mixed human and non-human identities expand the attack surface, according to Arcon. The governance problem is no longer just privileged session control but continuous entitlement visibility, lifecycle discipline, and just-in-time access across systems that were never designed for static assumptions.
NHIMG editorial — based on content published by Arcon: an overview of privileged access management for hybrid work, cloud entitlements, and identity-based threats
Questions worth separating out
Q: How should security teams govern privileged access in cloud and hybrid environments?
A: Teams should govern privileged access around runtime authorization, not just connectivity or login.
Q: Why do standing privileges create outsized risk in PAM programmes?
A: Standing privileges create risk because they leave high-impact access available long after the original need has passed.
Q: What breaks when PAM is treated only as a remote access control?
A: The organisation loses control over what happens after entry.
Practitioner guidance
- Map every privileged path across hybrid estates Inventory remote admin routes, cloud consoles, third-party access, and service-account elevation paths so that the full privilege surface is visible before policy decisions are made.
- Force high-risk access through just-in-time elevation Remove persistent admin access where possible and require time-bound elevation for task-specific work, especially in cloud and third-party scenarios.
- Unify entitlement discovery with session governance Connect CIEM-style visibility with PAM approval, recording, and revocation so privileged access is both discoverable and controlled during use.
What's in the full article
Arcon's full article covers the operational detail this post intentionally leaves for the source:
- Feature-level breakdown of secure web gateway behaviour for privileged remote access
- Product-specific integration details for Active Directory and ticketing workflows
- Platform architecture claims and deployment messaging for hybrid environments
- Vendor framing of customer outcomes and implementation claims
👉 Read Arcon's analysis of PAM for hybrid access, cloud entitlements, and remote administration →
PAM for cloud entitlements and remote access: are your controls keeping up?
Explore further
View Full Forum → | NHI Foundation Course → | Our Services →
17/08/2026 4:46 pm
PAM is no longer just a privileged-session product category. Once cloud entitlements, third-party access, and non-human identities enter the picture, PAM becomes a governance layer for how high-risk access is discovered, constrained, and audited across the whole estate. The practical implication is that teams should stop treating PAM as a point solution for admin logons and start treating it as a control architecture for privileged identity lifecycle.
A few things that frame the scale:
- 85% of organisations lack full visibility into third-party vendors connected via OAuth apps, according to The State of Non-Human Identity Security.
- 45% of organisations cite lack of credential rotation as the top cause of NHI-related attacks, according to The State of Non-Human Identity Security.
A question worth separating out:
Q: Who is accountable when privileged access controls fail in cloud environments?
A: Accountability usually sits with the identity, platform, and cloud operations teams together, because the failure spans authentication, role design, and secret handling. Governance frameworks such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 expect control ownership to be explicit. If no team owns the full path from grant to revocation, the gap persists.
👉 Read our full editorial: PAM for hybrid access and cloud entitlements needs tighter governance
