Zero Standing Privileges: The New Imperative for Modern PAM | SSH

Privileged access has always been one of the most critical—and most exploited—attack vectors in the enterprise. As the Gartner® Buyers’ Guide for Privileged Access Management highlights, PAM implementations can be complex and costly and require careful resource planning and negotiation with vendors.

Traditional approaches to PAM often fall short because they fail to address a growing and fundamental security objective: eliminating standing privileges wherever possible. 

Zero Standing Privileges (ZSP), an outcome where no user or machine holds persistent privileged access, is quickly emerging as one of the most effective ways to reduce the likelihood and impact of a breach.

Instead of static accounts, credentials, or VPN-style broad access pathways, a favorite target for attackers, ZSP enables privilege only when needed, for the specific task, and for the shortest duration—continuously verified and auditable.  

As organizations modernize their security posture and adopt identity-first, Zero Trust principles, reaching ZSP becomes not just beneficial but essential. 

Why Standing Privileges Are Still a Major Problem 

The Gartner findings reveal several factors that contribute to lingering privileged access risk: 

• Some privileged access management (PAM) initiatives struggle to fully mitigate all PAM risks due to overlooked key objectives, the variety of systems, applications and access mechanisms, and idiosyncrasies in rotating credentials for humans and machines 

• Gartner discussions with clients reveal that many organizations do not proactively plan for changes to their operational procedures, which leads to unmitigated security gaps even after deploying a PAM tool

• Many organizations approach PAM as a simple one-off project. However, managing privileged access requires a long-term commitment because of the changing nature of requirements and the sheer amount and types of privileges and privileged accounts 

Privileged access use cases tend to be ubiquitous and diverse, making it difficult for identity and access management (IAM) leaders to determine which PAM tools and features best fit their organization’s unique PAM risks.

These challenges create fertile ground for nefarious actors, who increasingly target credential misuse, lateral movement, and persistent privileges. In many environments, privileged accounts remain overprovisioned, under-monitored, and excessively trusted—exactly the conditions that ZSP seeks to eliminate. 

Zero Standing Privileges: A Strategic Shift, Not a Feature 

Achieving ZSP requires far more than simply adopting a new PAM tool. It requires rethinking how privilege is granted, managed, and monitored across the organization. Instead of building controls around permanent privileged accounts, ZSP models replace them with just-in-time (JIT) access, identity-centered authorization, and ephemeral credentials. 

Gartner guidance reinforces this change in mindset. IAM leaders must: 

1. Step 1: Define unique PAM objectives by consulting Gartner’s list of principal PAM objectives and checking whether you have overlooked something. Run an account discovery process to find privileged accounts, including those for people and machines. 
2. Step 2: Develop a proactive strategy by inventorying and adapting use cases of how PAM should work in the environment, taking a least-privilege approach. Pay special attention to the privileged operations model, which will introduce cultural changes. 
3. Step 3: Evaluate current trends in PAM, and create a long-term roadmap that can be dynamically adjusted to reach desired levels of maturity within an achievable timeline. 
4. Step 4: Map use cases against available PAM functionality in the market and shortlist vendors for closer analysis, potentially leveraging RFPs and proofs of concept (POCs) to select a tool.
5. Step 5: Reduce costs and optimize involved effort by understanding licensing practices to accurately gauge total cost of ownership (TCO), negotiating vendor deals carefully, assessing internal knowledge and skills, and planning for upskilling or procuring additional resources for PAM deployment. By tying privilege directly to authenticated identity, validated context, and time-bound workflows, organizations dramatically reduce the attack surface and make credential misuse far less feasible. 

The Payoff: Stronger Security With Less Operational Friction 

ZSP directly addresses many of the shortcomings Gartner identifies in traditional PAM programs. It reduces reliance on static credentials, minimizes lateral movement risk, and ensures that privileged access becomes intentional rather than ambient.

Importantly, ZSP also helps organizations prepare for evolving compliance mandates—including Zero Trust strategies, identity-first access policies, and sector-specific cybersecurity regulations. 

When implemented well, ZSP does more than strengthen PAM—it streamlines it. Instead of constantly rotating, vaulting, and managing long-lived credentials and keys, security teams shift to governing controlled, auditable, and temporary access flows. The operational overhead decreases even as security improves. 

Get your complimentary copy of the Gartner® Buyers’ Guide for Privileged Access Management (PAM)  

Or learn more about how PrivX PAM enables your journey towards ZSP 

Eliminating persistent privilege is one of the most effective ways to reduce risk. For organizations embracing identity-first, Zero Trust principles, ZSP is no longer optional—it’s the future of secure access.  

Gartner, Buyers’ Guide for Privileged Access Management, Felix Gaehtgens, Abhyuday Data, Michael Kelley, 1 October 2024  

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