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Which functionalities of PAM help organizations meet NIS2 and DORA requirements?

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In an era where cyber threats are increasingly sophisticated and frequent, robust regulatory frameworks are essential to ensure the security and resilience of critical infrastructures. The Network and Information Systems Directive 2 (NIS2) and the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) are two pivotal regulations in the European Union aimed at bolstering cybersecurity and operational resilience across various sectors, particularly financial services. Central to achieving compliance with these regulations is the implementation of effective Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions. PAM solutions are designed to secure, manage, and monitor privileged access, addressing some of the most critical security challenges organizations face today. By providing advanced functionalities such as secure credential storage, granular access controls, real-time monitoring, and comprehensive auditing, PAM solutions help organizations meet the stringent requirements set by NIS2 and DORA. This article delves into the specific functionalities of PAM that align with and fulfill the requirements of NIS2 and DORA, illustrating how these tools not only enhance security, but also ensure regulatory compliance, thereby contributing to a robust and resilient cybersecurity framework. The Network and Information Systems Directive 2 (NIS2) The Network and Information Systems Directive 2 (NIS2) is an updated and enhanced version of the original NIS Directive, which was the first comprehensive piece of EU-wide legislation, focused on improving cybersecurity across member states. The NIS2 Regulation represents a significant advancement in the EU’s approach to cybersecurity, aiming to build a more resilient and secure digital landscape across member states. NIS2 aims to address the evolving landscape of cyber threats by expanding the scope of its predecessor, introducing more stringent requirements, and ensuring a higher level of security and resilience for network and information systems within the European Union. The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is a comprehensive regulatory framework proposed by the European Commission to enhance the cybersecurity and operational resilience of the financial sector within the European Union. DORA aims to ensure that financial entities can withstand, respond to, and recover from ICT-related disruptions and threats effectively. Compliance with DORA requires financial entities to adopt proactive measures to identify, assess, and manage ICT risks effectively, ensuring they can continue to operate and safeguard financial stability in an increasingly digital economy. Specific PAM functionalities that align with the requirements of NIS2 and DORA 1. Secure Credential Storage and Management NIS2 and DORA mandate the protection of sensitive information and access credentials. PAM solutions provide secure storage for privileged credentials through encryption and secure vaulting mechanisms. This ensures that credentials are protected from unauthorized access, reducing the risk of credential theft and subsequent security breaches. Key functionalities include: encrypted vaulting of passwords and keys, automated password rotation to minimize exposure, secure access to credentials based on role and necessity 2. Granular Access Controls To comply with NIS2 and DORA, organizations must implement strict access control measures. PAM solutions offer granular access controls that enforce the principle of least privilege. This means users are granted only the access necessary for their roles, reducing the risk of unauthorized access to critical systems. The essential functionalities refer to: Role-based access control (RBAC) to define and enforce access policies, fine-grained access permissions tailored to specific tasks, approval workflows for elevated access requests. 3. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) MFA is essential for securing privileged access and is a requirement under NIS2 and DORA. PAM solutions integrate MFA to add an extra layer of security, ensuring that only authorized users can access privileged accounts. This reduces the risk of unauthorized access even if credentials are compromised. The core functionalities are as follows: Integration with various MFA methods (enforcement of MFA for all privileged access attempts, contextual MFA, adjusting the level of authentication required based on the risk associated with the access request). 4. Real-Time Monitoring and Auditing Continuous monitoring and auditing are critical for detecting and responding to security incidents, as required by NIS2 and DORA. PAM solutions provide real-time monitoring of all privileged activities and generate detailed audit logs. These logs help organizations detect suspicious behavior, respond to incidents promptly, and provide evidence for regulatory audits. Key functionalities include: Real-time session monitoring and recording, comprehensive audit trails of all privileged access and activities, alerts and notifications for anomalous or suspicious behavior. 5. Automated Privileged Session Management Effective session management is crucial for securing privileged access. PAM solutions offer automated session management to control and monitor privileged access sessions. This includes initiating, monitoring, and terminating sessions automatically, ensuring that all activities are tracked and secured. Important features comprise: automated session initiation and termination, session recording and playback for audit and forensic purposes and contextual session controls, such as limiting commands or actions based on policy. 6. Risk Assessment and Reporting NIS2 and DORA require organizations to continuously assess and manage risks associated with privileged access. PAM solutions include risk assessment tools that analyze the security posture of privileged accounts and identify potential vulnerabilities. These tools help organizations implement risk mitigation strategies and ensure ongoing compliance. Essential features encompass: Risk scoring and assessment for privileged accounts, automated reporting on compliance status and security posture, tools for continuous monitoring and risk assessment. 7. Incident Response and Forensics Rapid response and forensic analysis are crucial in the event of a security incident. PAM solutions facilitate quick incident response by providing detailed logs and real-time monitoring data that can be used to investigate and address security breaches. This capability helps organizations meet NIS2 and DORA requirements for incident response and recovery. Critical functionalities involve: detailed logging and forensic data collection, tools for quick analysis and response to security incidents, integration with incident response workflows and teams Why you should be NIS2 and DORA compliant? Adherence to the Network and Information Systems Directive 2 (NIS2) and the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is imperative for organizations seeking to fortify their cybersecurity defenses and ensure operational resilience in today’s digital landscape. By embracing NIS2 and DORA compliance, organizations not only fulfill legal obligations, but also proactively protect critical infrastructure, sensitive data, and customer trust. Compliance

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Identity Security as a Core Pillar of Zero Trust

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Nowadays cyber risks are constantly increasing. However, companies can significantly increase their level of security with a few preventative measures and the focus should be on an identity-based zero trust strategy. At its core, zero trust is a strategic cybersecurity model for protecting digital business environments, which increasingly include public and private clouds, SaaS applications and DevOps practices. Identity-based zero trust solutions such as single sign-on (SSO) and multi-factor authentication (MFA) are designed to ensure that only authorized people, devices and applications can access a company’s systems and data. Simply explained, zero trust is based on the idea that you cannot distinguish the „good guys“ from the „bad guys“. In other words, the zero trust principle is based on the assumption that any identity – whether human or machine – with access to systems and applications may be compromised. Traditional concepts that rely on perimeter protection no longer work in an era of digital transformation, the increasing use of cloud services and the introduction of hybrid working models. This has led to the zero trust approach „Never Trust, Always Verify“ to secure identities, end devices, applications, data, infrastructures and networks while ensuring transparency, automation and orchestration. The five principles of zero trust protection There are many frameworks that support companies in the introduction of Zero Trust. However, as every company has different requirements, these frameworks should only be seen as an initial guide to developing and implementing a zero trust strategy and roadmap. In any case, an effective zero trust program should include five constants: By enabling consistent adaptive multi-factor authentication, organizations ensure that users are who they say they are. Organizations can detect potential threats faster and users can easily and securely gain access to resources. Organizations should automate identity provisioning and define approval processes. Re-authenticating and re-validating user identities – for example after high-risk web browser sessions or periods of inactivity – ensures that the right user has access to the right resources. It is essential to eliminate unnecessary privileges and remove superfluous authorizations for cloud workloads. It must be ensured that all human and non-human users only have the privileges required for their tasks in accordance with the least privilege principle. With the just-in-time access method, companies can also grant users extended access rights in real time. This means that an end user can access the required resources for a certain period of time in order to carry out a specific activity. The rights are then withdrawn again. Continuous monitoring is the best way to understand what is happening and to detect any anomalies that occur. By recording sessions and key events as well as tamper-proof stored audits, companies can document adherence to compliance requirements. Endpoint Privilege Management is the cornerstone of strong endpoint protection and is critical for detecting and blocking credential theft attempts, consistently enforcing the principle of least privilege (including the removal of local administrator rights) and flexible application control to defend against malware and ransomware. The intelligent, policy-based application control prevents the execution of malicious programs. In addition to classic software denylisting and allowlisting, it should also be possible to run applications in a „restricted mode“ so that the user can also access applications that are not explicitly trusted or unknown. Identity as the core pillar of Zero Trust In principle, zero trust is neither quick nor easy to implement, and implementation can be complex. If only because efficient zero trust strategies involve a combination of different solutions and technologies, including multi-factor authentication, Identity and Access Management (IAM), Privileged Access Management (PAM) or network segmentation. But one thing must be clear: For a Zero Trust project to be successful, identity must play a central role from the outset. With identity security, as the basis of a zero trust approach, companies can identify and isolate threats and prevent them from compromising identities. Identity security is the means to achieve measurable risk reduction and also accelerate the implementation of zero trust frameworks. The exponentially increasing number of identities to be managed – and the threat that each individual identity can pose – increases the need for organizations to implement a zero trust security approach. An identity-based approach to zero trust is therefore becoming increasingly popular, with more and more organizations taking this route to dramatically improve their overall security posture.

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The Advantages of a Passwordless Authentication Within a Zero Trust Security framework

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The rapid shift towards more remote working and the associated explosion of devices has dramatically increased the number of cyber threats. With this in mind, companies face the challenge of protecting their highly complex cloud-based technology ecosystems, as employees, software and even partner organisations can pose a threat to the security of valuable systems and data. As a consequence, the zero-trust approach has established itself as a popular security framework. What is Zero Trust? In a Zero Trust architecture, the inherent trust in the network is removed. Instead, the network is classified as hostile and every access request is checked based on an access policy. An effective zero trust framework combines several tools and strategies and is based on one golden rule: trust no one. Instead, each entity (person, device or software module) and each access request to technology resources must provide enough information to earn that trust. If access is granted, it applies only to the specific asset needed to perform a task and only for a limited period of time. The role of zero-trust authentication Because password-based, traditional multi-factor authentication (MFA) can be easily exploited by cybercriminals, an effective zero-trust approach requires strong user validation through phishing-resistant, passwordless MFA. It also requires establishing trust in the endpoint device used to access applications and data. If organisations cannot trust the user or their device, all other components of a zero-trust approach are useless. Authentication is therefore critical to a successful zero-trust architecture, as it prevents unauthorised access to data and services and makes access control enforcement as granular as possible. In practice, this authentication must be as smooth and user-friendly as possible so that users do not bypass it or bombard the helpdesk with support requests. The advantages of passwordless authentication Replacing traditional MFA with strong, passwordless authentication methods allows security teams to build the first layer of their zero-trust architecture. Replacing passwords with FIDO-based passkeys that use asymmetric cryptography, and combining them with secure device-based biometrics, creates a phishing-resistant MFA approach. Users are authenticated by proving that they own the registered device, which is cryptographically bound to their identity, through a combination of biometric authentication and asymmetric cryptographic transaction. The same technology is used in Transaction Layer Security (TLS), which ensures the authenticity of a website and establishes an encrypted tunnel before users exchange sensitive information, for example in online banking. This strong authentication method not only provides significant protection against cyber attacks, but can also reduce the costs and administrative tasks associated with resetting and locking passwords with traditional MFA tools. Most importantly, there are long-term benefits through improved workflow and staff productivity, as authentication is designed to be particularly user-friendly and frictionless. Zero trust authentication requirements at a glance It is important that organisations looking to implement a zero trust framework address authentication as early as possible. In doing so, they should pay attention to the following points: 1. Strong user validation A strong factor to confirm the identity of the user is the proof of ownership of their assigned device. This is provided when the authorised user verifiably authenticates himself on his own device. The identity of the device is cryptographically bound to the identity of the user for this purpose. These two factors eliminate passwords or other cryptographic secrets that cybercriminals can retrieve from a device, intercept over a network or elicit from users through social engineering. 2. Strong device validation With strong device validation, organisations prevent the use of unauthorised BYOD devices by only granting access to known, trusted devices. The validation process verifies that the device is bound to the user and meets the necessary security and compliance requirements. 3. User-friendly authentication for users and administrators. Passwords and traditional MFA are time-consuming and impact productivity. Passwordless authentication is easy to deploy and manage and verifies users within seconds via a biometric scanner on their device. 4. Integration with IT management and security tools Collecting as much information as possible about users, devices and transactions is very helpful in deciding whether to grant access. A zero-trust policy engine requires the integration of data sources and other software tools to make correct decisions, send alerts to the SOC and share trusted log data for auditing purposes. 5. Advanced policy engines Deploying a policy engine with an easy-to-use interface enables security teams to define policies such as risk levels and risk scores that control access. Automated policy engines help collect data from tens of thousands of devices, including multiple devices from both internal employees and external service providers. Because using risk scores instead of raw data is useful in many situations, the engine also needs to access data from a range of IT management and security tools. Once collected, the policy engine evaluates the data and takes the action specified in the policy, for example, approving or blocking access or quarantining a suspicious device. Traditional password-based multi-factor authentication is now a very low barrier for attackers. An authentication process that is both phishing-resistant and passwordless is therefore a key component of a zero-trust framework. This not only significantly reduces cybersecurity risks, but also improves employee productivity and IT team efficiency.

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How to Implement Zero Trust With Privileged Access Management

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Zero Trust and PAM both emphasize the importance of access control. As we know, Zero Trust adopts a least privilege approach, ensuring that users and devices have only the necessary access rights to perform their tasks. PAM focuses on managing and controlling privileged accounts, which have elevated privileges and access to critical systems and data. By integrating PAM within a Zero Trust framework, organizations can implement strict controls over privileged access, reducing the risk of unauthorized or excessive access. Guide to implementing Zero Trust with Privileged Access Management: Implementing Zero Trust with Privileged Access Management (PAM) involves combining the principles and practices of both approaches to enhance security and minimize the risk of unauthorized access. In this article will be presented a step-by-step guide to implementing Zero Trust with Privileged Access Management: Remember that implementing Zero Trust with Privileged Access Management is an ongoing process, and it requires commitment, regular monitoring, and a proactive approach to security. It’s recommended to engage with security professionals and consider consulting with experts to ensure a robust implementation. What is the interaction between zero trust and privileged access management? As already mentioned, Zero Trust and Privileged Access Management (PAM) are two complementary security concepts that work together to enhance overall cybersecurity. While Zero Trust focuses on the principle of not trusting any user or device by default, PAM specifically addresses the management and control of privileged accounts. Zero Trust and Privileged Access Management (PAM) interact in several ways to strengthen overall security and mitigate the risks associated with privileged accounts. Here’s a closer look at their interaction: By combining the principles and practices of Zero Trust with the capabilities of Privileged Access Management, organizations can enhance their security posture, minimize the risk of unauthorized access, privilege misuse, and potential security breaches involving privileged accounts. The interaction between Zero Trust and PAM helps organizations enforce strict access controls, implement strong authentication, monitor privileged access activities, and make risk-based decisions to protect critical assets and sensitive data.

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