Still Vaulting Access? It’s Time to Move into the Next Stage of PAM Evolution 

It’s time to move on from the access models of decades past. 

Every organization says it wants least privilege. But most are still relying on long-outdated access models. 

Vault a credential. Rotate it. Approve access through a ticket. 

Call it “Just-in-Time,” since the user still gets the access they need. 

But that model wasn’t built for the world we’re living in now. 

Cloud infrastructure spins up and down in minutes. 

CI/CD pipelines push code to prod daily. 

AI agents connect to your APIs, pull data, and automate workflows faster than you can secure them. Especially with manual provisioning. 

And even with many modern PAM tools on the market today are still dealing with approaches that leave the risk of static access on the table. PAM vaults, ticket queues, proxy boxes still struggle to keep up with identities in the cloud. 

They were designed for something else entirely: 

A static perimeter. A human user. A Monday through Friday IT helpdesk. 

It’s no surprise that many security leaders feel stuck. What they have technically works, but only when teams avoid pushing its limits, or just end up working around them. 

“Modern” PAM Tools Still Use Static Credentials 

If your infrastructure-as-code workflow still involves checking secrets out of a vault and injecting them into a pipeline, that’s not Zero Trust. 

That's wishful thinking with static secrets and permanent access. 

If those credentials get leaked, exposed, or misused, that pipeline is opening you up to attack. 

If a developer is stuck waiting for access for hours or even days, they’re going to find a way around it. 

Across enterprises, we’re hearing the same things: 

• Secrets stored in repos or vaults still linger too long 
• Temporary access often means temporary in name only 
• Cloud teams are working around PAM controls, not with them 
• Multiple systems are stitched together with brittle workflows 
• JIT access in name doesn’t mean ephemeral permissions in practice 

In short: 
The generation of PAM built with vaulted access for static credentials and secrets rotations wasn’t built for pipelines, AI agents, and ephemeral workloads. 

It was built for an entirely different era. 

PAM Across the Ages 

Privileged access management has always chased the same goals: least privilege, auditability, and control. 

But the methods have changed with each generation of infrastructure: 

• Vault-Based PAM: Built primarily for static data centers and on-prem environments. Privileged accounts were typically shared root/admin credentials that were stored and rotated in secure vaults. 
• Proxy-Based PAM: As early cloud adoption grew, jump hosts became the entry point. Having traffic go through a single point in the network improved manageability and auditability, but still relied on broad standing accounts. 
• API-First, Identity-Native PAM: Cloud-native infrastructure demands ephemeral identities, short-lived tokens, and fine-grained authorization provisioned at the moment of request. It’s about eliminating static credentials altogether, not just storing them. 

Each iteration of PAM was a response to new environments and requirements. 

But today’s cloud, SaaS, and AI ecosystems are highlighting the limitations of reliance on vaulted static access and architectural chokepoints. PAM must evolve again. 

The Shift That’s Happening Now 

Modern security teams aren’t just looking for tighter product bundles or “better” and more “modern” PAM. 

 They’re asking more foundational questions: 

• Why are we still managing secrets in systems designed to eliminate them? 
• Why do we need standing roles in an environment that spins up and down dynamically? 
• Why are access controls still reactive instead of real-time? 

The shift is clear: 

From vaulting credentials to eliminating them. 

From controlling static accounts to governing real-time identity actions. 

From deployment-heavy, proxied access to native API and infrastructure for granular provisioning. 

From bolted-on tools to unified access policies enforced at runtime. 

What Modern Access Needs to Look Like 

To actually reduce risk and move faster, organizations are embracing a new model: 

True Just-in-Time, Ephemeral Access 

Access isn’t pre-provisioned. It’s created on demand, scoped to a specific task, and automatically removed. 

No standing roles. No credentials to rotate or expire for true Zero Standing Privileges. 

Unified Policies Across All Identities 

Human users, machine identities, and AI agents all follow the same guardrails. Policy determines who can do what, when, and for how long, across cloud, SaaS, and hybrid infrastructure. 

Context at Runtime as an Access Control Point 

Security isn’t dependent on a vault or session recording. 

Access decisions are made at runtime, based on intent, behavior, and the environment. Policy is enforced the moment access is needed and requested and remains consistent across tools and identities. 

Built for Cloud, Pipelines, and AI 

Your access platform should work natively with Terraform, GitHub Actions, Kubernetes, and agentic AI systems, not just local desktops and on-prem servers. 

Closing Thoughts 

The story of PAM has always been one of adaptation. Vaults and bastions worked when infrastructure was static, accounts were few, and humans were the only operators. That’s no longer true. 

Cloud, automation, and AI have changed the perimeter forever. The next stage isn’t about tighter vaults or faster ticket approvals. It’s about eliminating static privileges altogether, enforcing ephemeral access for every identity, and making access decisions dynamically at runtime. 

Organizations that adopt this model won’t just reduce risk. They’ll gain the agility to innovate at cloud speed without leaving standing access behind. 

If you’re ready to see what access decisions made at runtime look like in your environment, schedule time to chat with an access management expert on the team.