Managing access to critical systems and sensitive credentials is harder than ever, particularly with insider threats and credential theft risks.
If your team finds it difficult to manage privileged account security and passwords used everyday for various enterprise processes, you are not the only one facing such a challenge.
Using the wrong tool in such situations can create security gaps.
To help you navigate this situation, let’s provide a complete comparison of PAM vs. password manager.
Privileged Access Management is a cybersecurity framework that secures, manages, and monitors access to privileged accounts, such as admin credentials and service accounts. These accounts are prime cyberattack targets because they can access sensitive data and perform administrative actions.
A recent example is the attack on MGM group of hotels in Q3 of 2023, where the attackers brought in ALPHV to deploy their ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) software. They encrypted approximately 100 ESXi hypervisors within MGM’s network and claimed to have exfiltrated 6 TB of customer information during this time.
Some key features of PAM include:
- Privileged Account Security: Protects and stores high-level account credentials.
- Access Controls: Enforces policies like least privilege and just-in-time access.
- Session Monitoring: Tracks user activities for compliance and forensic analysis.
- Automated Credential Rotation: Updates passwords regularly to reduce exposure to threats.
Businesses with complex IT infrastructures need to ensure that only authorized personnel access privileged accounts. Privileged access governance provides the necessary framework to manage and monitor these accounts.
Password managers are digital tools that simplify and secure the storage and retrieval of credentials for teams and individuals. These tools help users manage passwords for several accounts.
Some key features of password managers include:
- Encrypted Storage: Secures passwords in an encrypted vault.
- Autofill & Retrieval: Automatically fill in credentials to enhance convenience.
- Password Generation: Creates strong, random passwords to prevent breaches.
- Cross-Device Synchronization: Provides secure access to credentials across devices.
A password manager is ideal for individuals and businesses. It reduces password-related risks and improves efficiency while ensuring sensitive credentials remain secure.
Are you looking for a reliable enterprise password manager for security purposes? Try Securden Password Vault for Enterprises. The platform provides a secure password vault that allows IT teams to centrally store, organize, and share credentials with granular access controls.
Securden Password Vault for Enterprises empowers IT admins to bring enterprise credentials under a single roof, while also ensuring secure sharing, just-in-time remote access with complete visibility and control.
Pick the Right Cybersecurity Solution
Try Securden to manage credentials, control privileged access, record sessions, and reduce risks. It can be quickly deployed on-prem or in the private cloud.
PAM and password manager are both solutions that address different cybersecurity challenges. Here is the complete comparison based on the key factors that help you choose the right solution for your business needs.
1. Key Users
Privileged access management suits IT teams, system administrators, and enterprises managing complex security environments. Businesses that need to control and monitor privileged access to critical systems opt for PAM.
For example, IT administrators manage access to Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data.
Password managers suit individuals, teams, and small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). They focus on securely storing and managing passwords for different accounts.
For example, Marketing teams use password managers for teams to share login credentials for tools like HubSpot or Canva to streamline collaborative efforts.
2. Access Control
PAM provides advanced access control features like multi-factor authentication (MFA), session recording, and role-based access control (RBAC). Such features help restrict access to sensitive systems and offer in-depth visibility into who accessed what and when.
Password Managers provide basic access control, such as MFA and auto-login functionality. While this enhances convenience, it needs advanced controls to manage high-level access to critical infrastructure.
3. Credential Management
PAM applies strict password policies and automates credential rotation. This approach ensures that privileged account credentials are regularly updated to reduce the risk of unauthorized access.
Password Managers focus on generating and storing strong and unique passwords. However, they do not provide automated credential rotation, which makes them less effective in managing critical accounts.
4. Monitoring and Auditing
PAM excels at providing features that track, record, and audit privileged user activities. This makes monitoring and auditing easier and is essential for compliance and detecting potential insider threats.
On the other hand, Password Managers lack monitoring and auditing capabilities. Their focus is more on securing password storage and retrieval. For instance, a password manager like Dashlane secures login information but does not provide detailed visibility into user activity on critical systems.
5. Compliance Support
PAM offers strong access controls and audit trails to help businesses meet regulatory requirements such as GDPR, HIPAA, and SOX.
Password Managers reduce password-related security risks but do not directly address regulatory compliance requirements as privileged access management does.
6. Threat Mitigation
Whether opting for on-premise or cloud PAM, the solution mitigates threats by monitoring privileged account usage and preventing insider threats. It has been one of the best solutions to protect the company’s sensitive assets.
Password Managers reduce the risk of password compromise due to weak or reused passwords. However, this solution does not provide strong threat mitigation for privileged accounts.
7. Integration
PAM easily integrates with the following enterprise-level systems to provide a strong security framework.
- Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions
- Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems (e.g., Splunk, LogRhythm)
- Privileged Identity Management (PIM) tools (e.g., CyberArk, BeyondTrust)
Password Managers are built to sync across the following platforms for convenient password management.
- Browsers for smooth password autofill (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, Safari)
- Mobile apps for access across devices
- Collaboration tools for easy team password management (e.g., Slack, Microsoft Teams)
8. Cost
PAM pricing tends to be higher due to the enterprise-grade features and scalability of PAM solutions. This makes it a significant investment for well-established enterprises.
Password Managers are more affordable and accessible and are available as subscription plans for individuals, teams, or small businesses.
9. Use Cases
Let’s compare privileged access management and password management based on their applications.
Where is PAM (Privileged Access Management) Used?
- To Secure High-Value Systems: Protects high-value IT resources (e.g., servers, databases) by ensuring only authorized users can access them, preventing misuse.
- For Regulated Industry Compliance: Helps industries like finance and healthcare meet standards (e.g., HIPAA, PCI DSS) with audit trails and secure credential management.
- To Manage Privileged Access for Vendors: Safely grants and monitors temporary vendor access which reduces breach risks.
- For Cloud Administration: Secures admin accounts in cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure) by enforcing least-privilege policies and restricting sensitive resource access.
Where is the Password Manager Used?
- For Employees to Simplify Password Management: Stores and auto-fills credentials, reducing time spent on password recovery and encouraging strong, unique passwords.
- To Protect Online Accounts for Individuals: Encrypts and stores personal login credentials that help prevent weak passwords and reduce hacking risks.
- For Streamlining Credential Sharing: Facilitates safe sharing of credentials for shared tools which avoids insecure methods like email or chat.
- To Mitigating Phishing Risks: Auto-fills credentials only on verified sites to reduce phishing risks and safeguard data.
Which Solution is Better for You?
- Choose PAM if your business operates in a complex IT environment, handles sensitive data, or complies with strict regulatory standards. PAM offers strong access control, monitoring, and compliance support required to secure privileged accounts.
- Prefer a Password Manager if you require an easy, cost-effective solution to manage multiple passwords within devices and users. It is ideal for small teams and SaaS-heavy businesses, where you securely store and share login credentials for various tools while keeping costs low.
Now, let’s examine the similarities that might help you better decide which cybersecurity solution to choose based on your unique requirements.
PAM and password managers serve diverse functionalities and target diverse user groups, but they also share some common features.
Both solutions aim to improve security by protecting user credentials, offering secure storage, and reducing the risk of unauthorized access.
Here are the similarities between both cybersecurity solutions.
- Password Protection: Both enterprise solutions focus on corporate password security, though these solutions differ in scope. PAM secures privileged account passwords, while password managers secure general user credentials. This shows that both ensure safe storage and are accessible only to authorized users.
- Encryption: Both tools use strong encryption techniques to protect sensitive data. PAM encrypts credentials and session data for privileged accounts, while personal password managers encrypt stored passwords.
- Centralized Management: Both systems centralize password management, which makes it easier to monitor, update, and control access. PAM centralizes privileged account access, while password managers centralize general user account information.
- Reduced Human Error: By automating processes like password generation, storage, and retrieval, both a password manager and PAM software help reduce human errors, such as password reuse or the storage of passwords in unsecured locations.
Given these similarities, you might question the use cases where these systems are more suitable. Let’s discuss each of the use cases in detail.
Selecting between Privileged Access Management (PAM) and a password manager is a bit complex, but making decisions becomes more accessible with this guide. PAM offers in-depth control over privileged access to critical systems, while enterprise password managers focus on secure and efficient storage. Choosing the right tool depends on the security and governance your business requires.
Why Choose Securden?
Securden excels at providing both enterprise password management and privileged access management.
Here are the benefits of choosing Securden for security purposes.
- Access free plans for up to five users with unlimited storage and sharing.
- Manage data securely through local or cloud-based vault synchronization.
- Automate password updates to strengthen security with minimal manual intervention.
- Integrate seamlessly with AD, Azure AD, LDAP, SIEM, and SSO solutions.
With such expertise, Securden is a valuable tool for businesses looking to secure their sensitive data. If you are one of them, get started with a 30-day free trial and experience superior security and ease of use with Securden today.
