Vendor access in zero trust: what IAM teams are missing

TL;DR: Zero Trust programmes can still leave a major gap when vendor and contractor access is not governed consistently, with only 36% of health IT leaders saying privileged access strategy is applied enterprise-wide, according to Imprivata and the Ponemon Institute. The control model is incomplete until third-party identities are brought into the same verification, least-privilege, and review discipline as internal users.

NHIMG editorial — based on content published by Imprivata: Zero Trust Efforts Fall Short When Vendor Access Is Ignored

By the numbers:

• Only 36% of health IT leaders say their organizations have a privileged access strategy applied consistently enterprise-wide.

Questions worth separating out

Q: How should security teams govern vendor access in a zero trust environment?

A: Security teams should treat vendor access as part of the core zero trust policy, not as a separate exception process.

Q: Why does vendor access weaken zero trust programmes in practice?

A: Vendor access weakens Zero Trust when it is managed through separate onboarding paths, broader privileges, or lighter review than internal access.

Q: What do organisations get wrong about privileged access for third parties?

A: Organisations often assume privileged access controls only need to cover employees or permanent administrators.

Practitioner guidance

• Map every third-party access path Inventory vendor, contractor, and support access routes into production systems, including remote access tools, shared admin channels, and emergency exceptions.
• Extend PAM controls to external identities Apply vaulting, just-in-time elevation, session recording, and approval workflows to vendor access instead of reserving them for employees.
• Replace broad remote access with granular verification Retire VPN-style access where possible and use tools that enforce real-time identity verification, task-scoped entitlements, and tighter session boundaries.

What's in the full article

Imprivata's full article covers the operational detail this post intentionally leaves for the source:

• Practical deployment steps for MFA, credential vaults, and least-privileged access in vendor workflows
• How to replace VPN-based access with remote access tools that enforce real-time identity verification
• The article's discussion of PAM and VPAM for improving compliance and operational efficiency
• The source's framing of Zero Trust as an adaptive security mindset for human and third-party identities

👉 Read Imprivata's analysis of why vendor access gaps weaken Zero Trust →

Vendor access in zero trust: what IAM teams are missing?

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