Start the journey to privileged cloud access, consider these considerations:

» Define access: The business functions rely on data, 
systems, and access, and dependencies on these entities vary from one organization to another, so make sure to define your privileged cloud access. 
» Develop IT cloud access policies: The organization should have a policy that details acceptable use and responsibilities for privileged cloud account. Working understanding of who has privileged access and when it’s being used is vital.
» Use a risk register: Use a risk register as part of your IT cloud access policy that requires any new cloud application to register the data impact risk along with the privileged access management (PAM) matrix questions.

» Discover privileged accounts: Automated PAM 
software identifies the privileged accounts, implements 
continuous discovery to curb privileged account sprawl, 
identifies potential insider abuse, and reveals external 
threats.
» Understand business users’ privileged access: All access is becoming privileged whether it’s due to the level of access of the account or the access users have to sensitive company data.
» Protect passwords: Verify the solution can 
automatically discover and store privileged accounts; schedule password rotation; audit, analyze, and manage individual privileged session activity; and monitor accounts to quickly detect and respond to malicious activity. 
» Limit IT admin access: Develop a least-privilege policy to enforce least privilege on endpoints and to limit IT admin access to cloud applications without disrupting business operations.
» Monitor and record sessions: PAM solution should
monitor and record privileged account activity, which helps enforce proper behavior and avoid mistakes by users. Audit, record, and monitor privileged activities to assist with regulatory compliance.
» Detect abnormal usage: Visibility into the access and
activity of the privileged accounts in real time helps catch
suspected account compromise and potential user abuse. Track and alert user behavior. Early detection of security incidents significantly reduces the cost of a data breach. 
» Respond to incidents: Include privileged access the
incident response plan in case an account is compromised. Simply changing privileged account passwords or disabling the privileged account isn’t adequate when a privileged account is breached.
» Audit and analyze: Continuously monitoring privileged
account usage via audits and analysis reports helps identify unusual behaviors that may indicate a breach or misuse.