Topic starter
07/06/2026 8:30 pm
TL;DR: Persistent privileged access remains a major attack path because many PAM programmes still leave standing credentials, overprovisioned accounts, and slow operational change in place, according to SSH Communications Security’s summary of Gartner guidance. Zero Standing Privileges turns privileged access into time-bound, auditable access flows, making lateral movement and credential misuse materially harder.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by SSH Communications Security: “Zero Standing Privileges: The New Imperative for Modern PAM”.
Key questions
Q: What breaks when standing privilege is still allowed in PAM?
A: Standing privilege breaks the core PAM promise because elevated access remains available even when no task is underway.
Q: Why does zero standing privilege reduce risk in privileged access management?
A: Zero standing privilege reduces risk because it removes always on access that attackers can reuse or abuse.
Q: What should organisations do if PAM is deployed but standing access remains?
A: Treat that as an operating-model problem, not a tooling problem.
Practitioner guidance
- Discover every privileged account and entitlement Run account discovery across people and machine identities, then classify which privileges are standing, overprovisioned, or only needed for specific tasks.
- Redesign privileged workflows for just-in-time access Replace permanent elevation with time-bound approval, issuance, and expiry steps so administrative access exists only for the task window.
- Separate machine privilege from human admin access Inventory service accounts, API keys, and other non-human credentials alongside human admin accounts so lifecycle controls can be applied consistently.
Bottom line: Standing privileged access remains the core weakness in many PAM programmes because it preserves reusable paths for misuse.
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This topic was modified 3 days ago by NHI Mgmt Group
07/06/2026 10:25 pm
Zero standing privilege is becoming the baseline because persistent privilege is the real control failure. If an account can remain privileged between tasks, the organisation has already accepted a larger attack surface than it needs. Standing access makes credential misuse, lateral movement, and overtrusted administration easier to convert into breach impact. The practitioner conclusion is simple: the unit of control must be the task, not the account.
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.
A question worth separating out:
Q: What should teams do when privileged access must cover both humans and machines?
A: They should govern the two populations together, but not treat their lifecycles as identical. Human admin access, service accounts, and machine credentials all need inventory, scope control, and offboarding rules, yet each carries different operational constraints. The common requirement is to eliminate standing privilege wherever possible.
👉 Read our full editorial: Zero standing privilege is becoming the baseline for PAM programs
This post was modified 3 days ago by NHI Mgmt Group