What Is Privileged Remote Access?

As remote work and third-party collaborations have become essential for most organizations, ensuring secure access to sensitive systems is vital. Privileged remote access (PRA) offers a secure gateway for administrators, IT personnel, and trusted vendors to manage your critical infrastructure from anywhere.

PRA not only enhances organizational security but also boosts workflows by streamlining critical operations. Learn the best PRA implementation tips and how they can transform your security and efficiency!

Understanding privileged remote access

Privileged remote access (PRA) is a cybersecurity solution that enables authorized individuals to remotely access and manage your organization’s systems, applications, databases, and other network components. The main use of privileged remote access is to secure, control, and monitor remote connections initiated by employees and third-party vendors.

“Remote privileged access management enforces least privilege principles through session-brokering approaches and also enables time-bound, session-specific, JIT access for remote privileged users.”

Gartner “Critical Capabilities for Privileged Access Management” (subscription required).

Privileged remote access is typically required for:

• IT administrators who manage servers, network devices, databases, and other critical infrastructure components. 
• Security analysts who investigate security incidents, analyze logs, and implement security measures.
• Database administrators who manage and maintain databases.
• Developers accessing development, testing, or production environments for debugging, deployment, or troubleshooting purposes.
• Third-party vendors who provide support, software maintenance, and critical IT services.
• Managed security service providers (MSSPs) that monitor and protect organizations from external threats through remote management.

Deploying remote privileged access management solutions is especially crucial in industries that handle sensitive data, such as finance, healthcare, and government sectors.

How PRA differs from PAM

PRA is a crucial component of privileged access management (PAM), a broader cybersecurity strategy that helps organizations govern, monitor, and control all forms of privileged access – both internal and external.

While PAM provides a comprehensive framework for managing privileged accounts and enforcing security policies across an organization, PRA focuses explicitly on enabling secure remote access for privileged users. Unlike traditional PAM solutions that primarily govern on-premises access, PRA ensures that off-site personnel, third-party vendors, and remote employees can securely access critical systems without relying on conventional VPNs, which could expose sensitive assets to the public on the internet.

How PRA works

PRA helps organizations establish secure, temporary access to critical IT assets via protocols like secure shell (SSH), remote desktop protocol (RDP), or virtual network computing (VNC). The process typically involves several key steps:

Benefits of privileged remote access

PRA enables organizations to balance remote access security and efficiency. Here are the main benefits you can get by adopting privileged remote access:

1. Reduced attack surface 

PRA allows for precise control over who can access specific resources and when, ensuring that users only have the privileges necessary to perform their tasks. Hence, there are fewer chances of accidental data exposure and insider threats.

PRA also aligns with zero trust principles by verifying every user and device before granting access. Unlike conventional VPNs, it prevents lateral movement within the network and reduces the risk of credential-based cyberattacks. 

2. Safe third-party access 

PRA ensures that external contractors, vendors, and MSSPs only get temporary, on-demand access to your systems, reducing the risk of supply chain attacks. Additionally, PRA enables you to limit third-party access to specific resources and applications rather than the entire network.

3. Fast incident response

With every privileged remote session carefully monitored, IT teams can spot any unusual user activity and quickly terminate suspicious processes. This reduces the potential impact of cyberattacks, insider threats, and malware infections. 

4. Streamlined cybersecurity compliance

Organizations in industries like finance, healthcare, and government must comply with strict security regulations and standards such as the GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS. PRA helps meet compliance requirements by enforcing privileged access policies, reducing human error, and maintaining detailed access logs for security audits.

5. Improved operational efficiency 

PRA improves operational efficiency by streamlining both access management and remote connectivity. In-house IT teams can quickly configure and grant secure access to remote users, enabling them to perform troubleshooting, maintenance, and updates whenever urgent action is required. 

6. Minimized IT cost 

Compared to traditional remote access solutions, PRA eliminates the need for an expensive VPN infrastructure, reducing hardware and maintenance costs. Implementing PRA also saves costs on on-site visits and travel expenses associated with traditional IT management.

7. Reduced workload

Since many routine tasks can be performed remotely, IT admins can use the time they would otherwise spend commuting on more important strategic initiatives. Additionally, privileged remote access solutions often include automated monitoring and reporting features that streamline administrative tasks, such as auditing user activity and managing permissions.

Privileged remote access best practices

To implement privileged remote access effectively, organizations should adopt a comprehensive strategy that includes the following steps:

1. Establish clear policies

Develop a robust policy and privileged remote access protocols that outline the key rules and guidelines for PRA. Your policy should specify: 

• Who needs privileged remote access? (e.g., IT admins, third-party vendors, MSSPs)
• Which systems require protection? (e.g., databases, cloud environments, critical infrastructure)
• For how long should access be granted? (temporary vs. persistent access).

Once you’ve defined clear policies, communicate them to all remote staff and stakeholders.

2. Adopt the principle of least privilege 

Enforce the principle of least privilege by only granting remote users the minimum level of access necessary to perform their job functions. This approach reduces the risk of unauthorized access and minimizes potential damage from account compromise. Regularly review and adjust permissions as roles change or when users leave the organization.

3. Enforce just-in-time access

Utilize just-in-time (JIT) access controls that allow remote users to receive elevated privileges only when necessary and for a limited time. This minimizes the duration of exposure of sensitive systems and reduces the risk of privilege misuse.

4. Centralize credential management

Use a secure password management or remote access management solution to centralize the storage and management of credentials for privileged accounts. This ensures that passwords are sufficiently strong and safely stored, reducing the risk of credential theft.

5. Use multi-factor authentication (MFA)

Require multi-factor authentication for all privileged accounts to add an extra layer of security. MFA ensures that even if credentials are compromised, unauthorized users cannot gain access without the second authentication factor, such as a one-time code sent to a mobile device.

6. Keep track of privileged accounts

Regularly review access logs to identify any privilege creep or misuse. You may also run privileged account discovery scans to identify unmanaged or hidden privileged accounts within your system. 

7. Monitor privileged sessions

Implement continuous monitoring and recording of privileged sessions to detect unusual activities and potential security breaches. Deploy dedicated privileged user monitoring solutions with real-time alerting and incident response capabilities to mitigate threats proactively.

8. Conduct employee training

Conduct regular training sessions for employees on best practices for secure remote access and the importance of protecting privileged accounts. Simulate phishing and credential theft attacks among your remote employees to ensure that they are staying vigilant. Such awareness training sessions can significantly reduce human error and enhance your overall security posture.

Privileged remote access supports secure, controlled, and audited connectivity between an organization and administrators, third-party vendors, and other IT personnel. A well-implemented PRA strategy ensures that only the right people have access to your critical systems at the right times. This reduces IT overhead, enhances productivity, reduces operational costs, and fortifies your organization’s defenses.

Syteca offers the following features to help you effectively implement PRA:

• granular remote access control
• JIT access provisioning
• password management and vaulting
• privileged account discovery
• multi-factor authentication
• privileged session monitoring, recording, and logging
• real-time alerts and incident response capabilities.

By leveraging Syteca’s robust capabilities, you can securely manage critical infrastructure from anywhere — without exposing your network to cyber threats or compromising convenience.