Every always-on admin account is a door left open.
The question is how many hours a day it needs to be open.
Traditional PAM
Vault the passwords and check them in and out.
- The problem: privileges still exist permanently. The vault just guards them.
- Heavy, expensive and slow to deploy, so it tends to end up as shelfware.
What Zero Standing Privilege (ZSP) Means
- No one holds permanent admin rights.
- Access is requested, approved (automatically or by a person), granted for a limited time, then removed.
How JIT Access Works, Step by Step
Step 1: Request
The user requests access with a reason or ticket number.
Step 2: Policy Check
Policy checks run: role, time of day, device posture, MFA.
Step 3: Grant
Temporary credentials or elevation are granted.
Step 4: Record
The session is logged and recorded.
Step 5: Expire
Access expires automatically.
Benefits
- Smaller attack surface.
- Stolen credentials are worthless outside the approved time window.
- Cleaner audits, because every access has a reason attached.
- Fits Zero Trust: “never trust, always verify.”
Challenges
- Designing approval workflows without slowing engineers down.
- Handling emergencies with break-glass accounts.
- Service accounts and machine identities.
Takeaway
Move from “vault everything” to “grant nothing permanently.”
Ready to remove standing privileges? Book a 15-min demo of AuthNull Just-in-Time access.