Privileged Access Management (PAM) Implementation For Enterprise

Onboarding 20,000+ accounts using ARCON PAM

Different kinds of identities, either human or non-human, are essential to manage in any organization with a hybrid environment. If privileged access is unchecked, then it invites cybersecurity risks, exposure to audit failure, and operational dependency on shared credentials.

Our team at IDMEXPRESS successfully executed a large-scale Privileged Access Management (PAM) implementation using ARCON PAM that involved onboarding over 20,000 privileged accounts across the whole system while ensuring no business disruption.

To begin the implementation, our focus areas were:

1. Centralizing credential governance

2. Password life-cycle management automation

3. Monitoring privileged sessions

4. Enabling regulatory compliance

The Business Objectives of Arcon PAM Implementation

The client had the following requirements to be fulfilled

1. Set up one central spot for all those privileged passwords (a vault).

2. Stop using shared admin passwords—everyone gets their own.

3. Get the passwords to change automatically (auto-rotation!).

4. Make sure privileged sessions are super secure.

5. Have complete visibility for audits and compliance—we'll know exactly who did what.

6. Protection of service and application identities

7. Reduction of insider threat risk

The Scope of Implementation

Subsequently, the scope of the PAM implementation was defined. This phase involved the deployment covering the following privileged identities across the organization:

1. Windows and Linux Servers

2. Database Administrative Accounts

3. Network Devices

4. Domain Privileged Accounts

5. Application IDs

6. Service Accounts

7. Emergency Access Accounts

   
   

We onboarded a total of 20,000+ accounts

The PAM implementation approach

Our strategy was very clear from the beginning - phased and risk-controlled. The added advantage was that it ensured scalability and operational stability. There were a total of 8 phases, which looked like this:

Phase 1: DISCOVERY & ASSESSMENT

The project kick-off was done by taking a full inventory of every single super-user account across the system. Here's what we did:

• Discovery and Validation:

  
  

  • Really digging into the Active Directory admin groups.

  • Making sure to nail down all the accounts linked to servers and databases.

  • Mapping of service dependencies to their corresponding accounts.

  • Verification of the designated owner for each account.

  • Risk scores were assigned based on the criticality of the account.

    
    

• Deliverables for this phase included:

  
  

  • A full inventory of all accounts that had privilege.

  • A way to prioritize which accounts to onboard first, based on how risky they are.

  • An official list documenting everything the application depended on.

    
    

Phase 2: PAM Infrastructure Deployment

We rolled out the ARCON Privileged Access Management (PAM) platform with a solid, enterprise-grade setup.

The solution went live with several main parts:

• The Secret Vault for credentials

• The Password Manager

• The Session Gateway

• The Reporting and Analytics tools

• A Disaster Recovery setup

  
  

To get the security and integration just right, we hooked up some key elements:

• Identity Management: We used Active Directory to handle all user accounts and identities in one place.

• Access Security: We added Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) so everyone has to do a double-check when logging in—super secure.

• Keeping Your Information Secure: We encrypt all data in transit, so your privacy and security are fully protected.

• Keeping Things Running Smoothly: We've set up Backup and High Availability (HA) to make sure the system keeps operating without a hitch, no matter what bumps we hit.

Phase 3: Policy & Governance Design

Before we kicked off the PAM onboarding, we made sure to nail down our standard governance policies.

The final setup was looking good and included these key components. We carefully set up the rotation policies to hit all our security and compliance needs:

• Standards for password strength and how often they change

• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

• A proper sign-off process

• Mandatory recording of all sessions

• Clear steps for when emergency access is needed

Phase 4: Pilot On-boarding

To make sure the rollout went smoothly across the whole company, we started with a small, controlled pilot.

This pilot helped us check that the main features were working right before the big launch.

Here's what we did:

• Setting up 500 low-priority accounts 

• Checked the password rotation feature

• Making sure the application would connect

• Tested the session monitoring stuff

• Confirming the user access flows are working

Phase 5: Automated Bulk On-boarding

To onboard 20,000 accounts efficiently, we undertook an automation-driven wave approach.

The objectives for each wave were :

• Wave 1 Infrastructure validation: 2000 accounts

• Wave 2 Production onboarding: 3000 accounts

• Wave 3 Service accounts: 4000 accounts

• Wave 4 Application identities: 4000 accounts

• Wave 5 Database & network: 4000 accounts

• Wave 6 Final onboarding: 2500 accounts

  
  

How We Automated Things:

We focused on three main ways to make operations smoother:

• Easy User/Service Setup: We used APIs to make getting new users and services set up quick and simple.

• Fast Bulk Settings: Uploading one CSV file is all it takes to set up tons of configurations at once.

• Quicker Checks: Thanks to some smart scripts, we can do all the necessary checks much faster and more accurately now.

Policies Applied Right Away: Any relevant policies are automatically put in place the moment setup is complete.

Phase 6: Service & Application Account Management

Setting up those service accounts with a zero-downtime plan really paid off; we avoided any app crashes when the new password rules kicked in.

Here’s how we did it:

• Figured out all the dependencies

• Scheduled maintenance slots

• Automated the credential updates

• Tested the applications to make sure everything worked

• Switched on controlled password rotation

Phase 7: Privileged Session Management

The PAM system made sure only the right people could get in by routing all privileged connections through controlled sessions.

We rolled out these important features:

• Proxy connections for RDP and SSH sessions.

• Full session recording and playback capability.

• Live monitoring of all commands being run.

• A smooth way to terminate any active session immediately.

• Credential masking, so users can jump onto systems without ever needing to see the actual passwords.

Phase 8: Compliance Enablement & Reporting

We set up audit-ready reporting so we could easily comply with all sorts of rules and regulations, like:

• ISO 27001

• PCI-DSS

• SOX

• Our own Internal Security Governance 

  
  

The main reports we set up gave us things like:

• Who accessed what with privileged accounts

• When passwords were changed

• What happened during user sessions

• A log of who approved access requests

Conclusion

A structured, automation-led implementation approach enabled the successful onboarding of over 20,000 privileged accounts into ARCON PAM while maintaining operational continuity.

The deployment established a scalable privileged access governance framework capable of supporting future cloud, DevOps, and hybrid infrastructure expansion.

If your organization is looking for a PAM solution, and it's implemention, deployment, or managed services support, then IDMEXPRESS can help you according to your needs and requirements. Contact us today to secure your tomorrow!

Contact Us