Introduction:
The digital transformation of businesses worldwide has given them new scope and simplified business delivery processes. Alongside this, the Implementation of technology has increased the attack surface, making organizations highly prone to cyber threats. The primary goal of cyber attackers or hackers is to steal, destroy, alter, or expose sensitive business information.
According to IBM, the average cost of cyber attacks in 2023 was $4.45 million, and reports say that the majority (70%) of the data breaches were caused by human error. There are multiple ways that cyber attackers use to gain unauthorized access to organizational infrastructure and data.
The privileged accounts are one of the highly targeted sources used by attackers to gain unauthorized access. Most organizations have become concerned about security and are investing in strengthening their security architecture to defend and fight against cyber attacks.
CyberArk is an advanced platform thousands of organizations use to secure organizational infrastructure, privileged accounts, credentials, secrets, cloud security, endpoint privilege security, etc. Let's dive deep into CyberArk solution details.
Tables of Contents
The stated concepts are discussed in this blog post!
What is CyberArk?
CyberArk is a powerful Privilege Management (PAM) Solution designed to store, manage, and share privileged passwords. CyberArk offers advanced features that let administrators apply intelligent privilege controls to secure human and machine identities that access infrastructure, applications, data, etc. This highly flexible platform enables you to customize it to meet your unique security requirements and fight against cyber attacks.
CyberArk platform has been used by more than 8,000 organizations across the globe, and its zero-trust approach leaves no room for cyberattacks. Apart from the PAM solution, CyberArk offers a range of products such as Application Access Manager (AAM), Privileged Session Manager (PSM), Enterprise Password Vault (EPV), SSH Key Manager, Privileged Threat Analytics (PTA), etc.
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Related Article: CyberArk Interview Questions
CyberArk's architecture is a multilayered architecture designed around Digital Vault. Configuring CyberArk solutions and securely sharing passwords with IT and remote staff is far simpler. CyberArk architecture offers next-generation security with its different layers of protection, which include firewall, authentication, VPN, encryption, etc, making privilege management faster and more effective.
Following are the 2 essential elements of CyberArk CyberArk Architecture:
Storage Engine: In simple terms, the storage engine is nothing but the Vault or server, and this engine is responsible for operations like securing data, authentication, and access control. The CyberArk’s Storage engine facilitates and manages access to applications and users and interacts with the interface using a secure protocol.
Interface: This is also called web interface, windows interface, or SDK and acts as a bridge between storage engine and applications, users, etc, to grant access to required resources. It follows the CyberArk vault protocol to create communication with the Storage engine.
Related Article: CyberArk Vs BeyondTrust
Following are the core components of CyberArk, let's discuss them one by one:
CyberArk digital vault is a core component that securely stores sensitive information. It regulates access to the vault and offers auditable records. This vault is installed on a server with strict security measures to minimize the system's attack surface.
This PVWA component enables the users or administrators to use web clients to access privileged accounts from remote locations.
CyberArk CPM is a self-hosted privileged access security solution equipped with a centralized UI to manage and administer security policies and controls for applications and systems across the organization.
Privileged Session Manager Component utilizes Vaulting technology to monitor privileged access to systems and networks. It monitors and records privileged accounts operations for future audits.
This CyberArk PSM (privileged Session Manager) for SSH (Secure Shell) component is specialized in controlling, monitoring, and recording privileged accounts' access to network devices.
CyberArk’s PTA component helps identify and act on high-risk privileged accounts immediately. The PTA is integrated with privileged session managers to leverage threat analytics. PTA assigns a risk score to each privileged account and helps reviewers take action on high-risk accounts.
SSH keys are a medium to interact with a privileged account machine. Every SSH key consists of two pairs: a private key stored on the application or user who can use it while accessing the target machine and a public key stored on the Target machine.
CyberArk Email notifications component is designed to send automatic emails to predefined users about Privilege Cloud and Privileged Access Security activities.
The following table contains the overall features of the CyberArK Pam platform:
| Access Controls/Permissions | APIs |
| Access Management | Activity Tracking |
| Audit Management | Application Access Control |
| Compliance Management | Configurable Workflow |
| Endpoint Management | Data Synchronization |
| Least Privilege Enforcement | Incident Management |
| Password Management | Multi-Factor Authentication |
| Risk Assessment | Real-Time Monitoring |
| Secure Data Storage | Single Sign On |
| Status Tracking | Security Auditing |
| Workflow Management | Vulnerability Scanning |
| Threat Intelligence | Reporting/Analytics |
Related Article: CyberArk Certification
Industries Using CyberArk
CyberArk is a powerful privileged Access Management solution, and a report says around 8,000+ companies are using CyberArk. It has penetrated diversified industries to strengthen security. Following are the major industries using CyberArk:
Summary:
Many other PAM solutions are available in the market, but cyberArk is now leading with its next-generation security features and protecting organizations from evolving cyber threats. You have some brief knowledge about concepts like what CyberArk is, its components, industries use, features, etc.
By Tech Solidity
Last updated on February 6, 2024
