Privileged Access Management Policy
1. Purpose
Establish requirements for managing, monitoring, and controlling privileged access to [ORGANIZATION]'s critical systems and data to minimize the risk of unauthorized access and insider threats.
2. Scope
This policy applies to all accounts with elevated privileges, including system administrators, database administrators, network administrators, cloud administrators, application administrators, and any other accounts with access beyond standard user permissions.
3. Policy
3.1 Privileged Account Governance
An inventory of all privileged accounts shall be maintained and reviewed at least [CUSTOMIZE: quarterly], including: account name, system/application, privilege level, assigned owner, business justification, and last review date.
Privileged access shall be granted based on the principle of least privilege, providing only the minimum permissions necessary to perform assigned duties.
Separation of duties shall be enforced to prevent any single individual from having conflicting privileged access (e.g., both create and approve, both develop and deploy to production).
Privileged access shall require a documented business justification and approval from [CUSTOMIZE: CISO/IT Director/Second-level Manager].
3.2 Privileged Access Controls
Privileged access management (PAM) tools shall be deployed to vault, rotate, and monitor all privileged credentials.
Privileged sessions shall be recorded and logs retained for at least [CUSTOMIZE: 1 year/2 years] for forensic and audit purposes.
Just-in-time (JIT) privileged access shall be implemented where technically feasible, with elevated permissions automatically revoked after [CUSTOMIZE: 4/8/24] hours or task completion.
Direct login with privileged accounts shall be prohibited. Administrators shall authenticate with their standard account and elevate privileges through approved mechanisms (sudo, PAM, etc.).
Privileged access from untrusted networks or devices is prohibited without VPN and MFA.
3.3 Administrative Workstations
Administrative activities on critical systems shall be performed from dedicated, hardened administrative workstations (privileged access workstations) where feasible.
Administrative workstations shall not be used for email, web browsing, or other standard user activities.
Administrative workstations shall be on a separate, restricted network segment with enhanced monitoring.
3.4 Emergency Access
Break-glass emergency access procedures shall be documented for critical systems, allowing authorized access when normal privileged access mechanisms are unavailable.
Emergency access credentials shall be stored securely (e.g., sealed envelope in a safe, encrypted password vault) with dual-person authorization required for access.
All emergency access usage shall be logged, reviewed within [CUSTOMIZE: 24/48] hours by [CUSTOMIZE: CISO/IT Director], and documented with justification.
4. Compliance
Compliance with this policy is mandatory for all personnel within its scope. Compliance will be monitored through periodic audits, automated controls, and management review.
Exceptions to this policy must be documented with a business justification, approved by [CUSTOMIZE: CISO/Security Team], and reviewed at least annually.
5. Enforcement
Violations of this policy may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment or contract, and may result in civil or criminal penalties where applicable law has been violated.
[ORGANIZATION] reserves the right to audit compliance with this policy at any time, with or without notice.
6. Review and Revision
This policy shall be reviewed at least annually by [CUSTOMIZE: CISO/Policy Owner] and updated as necessary to reflect changes in the threat landscape, regulatory requirements, or organizational structure.
All revisions shall be documented with version number, date, author, and description of changes.
Policy Approval
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