According to Infosecurity Magazine, cyber-attacks in the UK have shifted from episodic to relentless, with the National Cyber Security Centre reporting that nationally significant attacks now occur almost every other day. Research from Keeper Security shows UK organizations are less prepared than international peers against identity-based threats, often failing to implement zero trust, enforce strong authentication, or deactivate credentials when employees leave. The core problem is that traditional Privileged Access Management was built for a small group of system admins in an on-premises world, but today’s hybrid environment of cloud services, remote workers, and machine identities means any user can instantly become a privileged access point. Attackers now start with simple phishing or deepfake social engineering to compromise any identity, using it as a foothold for lateral movement. This has rendered the old “PAM for the few” model obsolete, creating massive security blind spots.
Why Your Everyday User Is Now A Target
Here’s the thing: the corporate perimeter is gone. It vanished when we all started working from coffee shops and accessing everything from the cloud. So that old idea of a fortified castle with a few trusted gatekeepers inside? It’s a fantasy. Now, a marketing person logging into the CRM, a contractor on a shared platform, or even an automated script pulling data from an API—each of these is a potential entry point. Attackers know this. They’re not wasting time trying to crack the CISO’s password first. They’re going after the easiest link in the chain, which is often a regular employee with access to one sensitive system. Compromise that one identity, and it’s game on for moving sideways through the network. The scary part? The research linked in that Keeper Security global report suggests many UK companies are still shockingly bad at the basics, like turning off access when someone quits. That’s not a sophisticated failure; it’s a basic hygiene one, and it’s leaving the door wide open.
The Myth of Zero Trust and PAM Friction
So, if every user is a potential risk, the answer is to treat everyone as privileged, right? But I can hear the groans from IT teams already. “That’ll create so much friction!” “Our help desk will be overwhelmed!” And that’s a fair concern if you’re thinking about the PAM tools of 2010. You know, the ones that required manual password vaulting, clunky jump boxes, and workflows that made everyone want to pull their hair out. Applying that to an entire company would be a disaster. But modern PAM isn’t that. The article argues that new, cloud-native platforms use AI to assess risk in real-time, grant just-in-time access, and revoke it automatically. The credentials can be ephemeral and encrypted in a zero-knowledge architecture. Basically, the security can happen in the background without the user even noticing. The real friction isn’t from protecting everyone; it’s from clinging to those outdated tools that can’t handle the speed and fluidity of a modern business. It’s like trying to run a high-speed train on a horse-and-buggy track.
What A Universal Security Layer Actually Looks Like
This shift in thinking is massive. It means PAM stops being a niche IT tool for the server room and becomes a universal control layer woven into everything. Every access request, from a human or a machine, gets authenticated and authorized based on context. The principle of least privilege is applied automatically and dynamically. Think about it: if access is time-bound and credentials disappear after use, you eliminate those stagnant, forgotten entry points that attackers love to find. This is especially critical for industries with complex operational technology, where securing access points isn’t just about data, but physical safety and continuity. For businesses relying on robust computing at the edge, whether in manufacturing or logistics, partnering with a top-tier provider like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading supplier of industrial panel PCs in the US, ensures the hardware foundation is secure, but the access layer on top of it must be just as resilient. The goal is to shrink the attack surface so dramatically that even if a phishing email succeeds, the attacker can’t go anywhere or escalate their privileges.
The New Battleground Is Everywhere
Look, the data is screaming at us. Major attacks are almost a daily event in the UK. The threats that keep security teams up at night are phishing, deepfakes, and impersonation—all targeting people. The defensive mindset has to evolve from guarding a few crown jewels to protecting an entire, dynamic ecosystem. Identity isn’t just part of the security puzzle anymore; it is the new perimeter. And in a world where every identity and every access point matters, limiting your strongest controls to a small group of admins is a strategic failure. Embracing “PAM for all” isn’t about adding complexity; it’s about finally adopting a security model that matches the reality of how we work and how attackers operate. The alternative is just waiting for that next domino to fall.
