1. Privileged Access Management
Geoff Gottlieb
ISSA Chapter Meeting
6/6/19

2. What is privileged access?
Privileged accounts provide elevated, often unrestricted access to an organization's underlying information systems and technology, making them rich targets for both external and internal malicious actors. Often referred to as the "keys to the kingdom," these accounts have been used in successful attacks to gain access to corporate resources and critical systems (e.g., "crown jewels"), resulting in data breaches. NCCOE Practice Guide on Privileged Account Management ( management)

3. Keys to the Kingdom Domain administrators
Unix/Linux root level administrators
Firewall administrators
Database administrators
Server administrators
Virtualization environment administrators

4. But what about…. Business users who run data queries
Developers who have broad access to data
Service accounts that have broad access to data and systems
Application accounts that run web facing and other applications that have broad access to data and systems

5. How guarded is the kingdom?
Do you allow remote administration from a user’s workstation?
Do you allow database queries from a user’s workstation?
Do you block anything between your user’s workstation and your infrastructure environment?
Do all your servers have the same built-in administrator username/password?

6. Anthem
Source: BankInfoSecurity (

7. Anthem
Source: BankInfoSecurity (

8. This is actually easier than you think..
Bloodhound (

9. Where do you start?
Microsoft has a great white paper on where to start. They have skin in the game, but this guidance can be followed without purchasing anything
server/identity/securing-privileged-access/securing-privileged- access
CyberArk is one of the leaders in the Privileged Access space. They also have a free discovery tool
BeyondTrust & Thycotic – Other software players in the space

10. Where did we start? Multifactor authentication to the data warehouse
Built-in server administrator accounts
We used CyberArk EPV
Microsoft LAPS is also available for free
Domain Administrators – Password Vault
Isolated privileged account
Frequent rotation (Typically 12 hours after use)
Other accounts with broad reach into the environment
CyberArk Discovery & Assessment

11. Where are we going? Workstation environment separate from data center
All system administration and distributed development performed via privileged accounts
Admin sessions isolated so privileged passwords are not stored on the workstation (Privileged Session Manager)
More multifactor authentication for more users
Application and service account password rotation
Detection for Pass the Hash and Pass the Ticket

12. Questions?