Topic starter
12/06/2026 9:59 pm
TL;DR: Privileged access management tools reduce risk through authentication, session monitoring, rotation, and least privilege, according to Zluri’s 2026 updated overview of PAM solutions. The hard problem is not feature coverage but whether privileged access is still treated as a standing entitlement instead of a tightly governed, revocable control surface.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by Zluri: “Top 13 Privileged Access Management Solutions [2026 Updated]”.
Key questions
Q: What breaks when standing privileged access is still the default?
A: Standing privilege breaks least-privilege governance because access remains available long after the specific task has ended.
Q: Why do standing privileged accounts create compliance and security risk?
A: Standing privileged accounts keep high-risk access available even when no task requires it.
Q: How should IAM and PAM teams judge whether cloud identity controls are actually working?
A: Look at the proportion of privileged identities protected by MFA, the number of standing high-privilege assignments, the age profile of access keys, and the amount of secret material stored outside a managed vault.
Practitioner guidance
- Audit standing privileged access paths Inventory admin, vendor, and service accounts that retain elevated access outside active tasks, then identify which ones can be made request-based or time-bounded.
- Separate monitoring from entitlement control Review whether your session recording, alerting, and audit logs are paired with actual revocation and approval enforcement, not just post-access visibility.
- Tighten password rotation around ownership Tie privileged credential rotation to named owners, explicit use cases, and documented revocation paths so rotated secrets do not outlive their business purpose.
Bottom line: The article’s core message is that PAM value depends on shrinking standing privilege, not merely observing it more closely.
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This topic was modified 6 days ago by NHI Mgmt Group
13/06/2026 12:27 am
Standing privilege is the control model PAM still has to outgrow: the article describes tools that monitor, rotate, and audit privileged access, but those capabilities still leave a persistent entitlement model intact. That is the central governance problem because the risk is not only misuse, but the existence of always-available elevated access in the first place. Practitioners should treat standing privileged access as the thing being governed, not merely observed.
A few things that frame the scale:
- 97% of NHIs carry excessive privileges, increasing unauthorised access and broadening the attack surface, according to the Ultimate Guide to NHIs.
- 49% of IT professionals would prioritise improving privileged access management if the decision were theirs alone, according to Netwrix's 2023 Hybrid Security Trends Report.
A question worth separating out:
Q: What is the difference between least privilege and privileged account monitoring?
A: Least privilege is the access design, while privileged account monitoring is the detection layer that checks whether access is being used appropriately. Least privilege limits what an account can do. Monitoring looks for misuse, compromise, or abnormal logon behaviour after access is granted. In practice, organisations need both because restricted permissions do not stop credential theft or account abuse.
👉 Read our full editorial: Privileged access management still hinges on standing access control
This post was modified 6 days ago by NHI Mgmt Group