The accounts are maintained automatically. Hence, resource and administration costs are less.
Privileged Access Management
CyberArkExternal reviews
External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
Resource and administration costs are less but support needs to improve knowledge and quality
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault's deployment is complex for resources with little experience. Tech support needs to be improved as well based on quality and knowledge.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with the product for more than five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault is scalable.
How was the initial setup?
CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault's deployment can be done with two to three resources.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
The definitive solution for Privileged Access Manager
Great session management, password management, and temporary access capabilities
What is our primary use case?
We use CyberArk to secure the last resort accounts by introducing dual control approval, ticket validation, temporary access, and regular password rotation.
It also allows us to introduce location-aware access controls with multiple sites having access to specific location-protected content.
Finally, the session management capabilities allowed us to introduce delegated accounts to secure access to all sorts of devices in an easy way, but without losing the individual traceability.
How has it helped my organization?
It allows us to comply with the regulator requirements allowing us to operate in the different countries and to fulfil the security and compliance requirements.
In the end, it secures all the highly privileged accounts and protects the company from internal and external threat actors.
The solution is multifaceted and includes session management, password management, temporary access, ticketing validation, API access, single sign-on integration, load balancing, and high availability principles.
What is most valuable?
The credentials management capability is key to ensuring that the credentials are kept secure and that access to them is done on a temporary and event-driven basis.
The session isolation reduces the risk of exposure of the credentials and applying simpler network controls.
Web access allows the introduction of location-aware controlled access so that different locations can only access the data that is allowed to be retrieved from their sites allowing centralisation but fulfilling the regional requirements.
What needs improvement?
The product is very vaulting-focused. I'd love to see it expanding its capabilities a bit further into areas like just-in-time elevation, and access with non-vaulted credentials.
The upgrade options are good but could be further simplified.
The high availability options could be improved, and the load distribution as well for both the vaults and the credentials managers.
The web interface should allow having multiple sites for location-aware access control within the same web server.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for more than ten years.
Scalable, reliable, fully fledged and highly customisable
Can be deployed in hybrid self-hosted on-prem and private cloud environments.
Supports the cross-border restrictions by allowing the deployment of as many satellites as required.
However for business as usual tasks it's better to implement fine grained just in time solutions.
To cover all the security use cases, it has to be combined with additional solutions like CyberArk Identity or CyberArk Conjur.
Agentless temporary access with password based accounts (Quite useful in those scenarios where agents cannot be implemented, or when temporary access elevation is not an easy to implement option).
Good reporting and MFA with easy integration capabilities
What is our primary use case?
In my organization, we are using CyberArk Privileged Access Manager to enhance the security of an organization's critical systems, mainly by securing privileged accounts (e.g. administrator passwords, SSH keys, and API tokens).
We are also using Cyber-Ark for access control by ensuring that only authorized personnel can access privileged accounts and sensitive systems.
very important for us is also Session Recording and Monitoring. We can record and monitor privileged user sessions in real time for auditing purposes.
How has it helped my organization?
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager significantly improved our organization's security. Mainly, it has enhanced our ability to secure privileged accounts. Centralized management of identities ensures that credentials are stored securely. Also, the automated rotation of passwords reduces the risk of leaks.
The session recording feature adds great value and helps with auditing administrative activities.
CyberArk PAM can be easily automated, which saves a lot of time and administrative effort.
What is most valuable?
For our organization, the most valuable features of CyberArk PAM are:
- Credential Management. The automation of the retrieval and injection of credentials into sessions, and automation of password rotation.
- Session Recording. It gives us the possibility to record privileged user sessions for auditing and compliance purposes.
- Ease of integration. CyberArk can by integrated with multiple systems and applications.
- The possibility of using Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) which increases security
- Reporting module. This allows us to generate reports based on session activity
What needs improvement?
Cost management. There should be more models and licensing plans for this software. They should also be flexible, allowing you to purchase selected features at a favorable price.
User Experience. The current interface is OK, however, sometimes it is not very intuitive. There is also no possibility of advanced modification and adaptation to your own needs and requirements.
Performance. The performance of the application could be a bit better, especially in the case of remote sessions - delays in remote sessions can be annoying.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for about five years.
Excellent products with flexible design to meet any sites company requirements
Best of Breed for PAM
Great password management, API password retrieval functionality and Rest API retrieval
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the product as part of the growing security posture of the company.
How has it helped my organization?
The solution provided password management and API password retrieval functionality.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable aspects of the solution include password management and Rest API retrieval of vaulted credentials.
What needs improvement?
The solution needs better features for end users to manage their own whitelisting for API retrieval.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for over a decade.
Easy to secure, control, and monitor privileged access on highly critical networks
What is our primary use case?
Within our organization, our security requirements, which are set by our customers, require CIS compliance. Those requirements mandated securing privileged passwords with encryption, both in transit and at rest. CyberArk PAM was selected as our solution, and CyberArk's Professional Services team conducted the initial installation and implementation.
Three years later, I was tasked with implementing the product more fully, integrating more of the out-of-the-box privileged password change management automation features of the product within our environment.
How has it helped my organization?
The out-of-the-box functionality, Windows OS Privileged local account password change management, was the first automation feature implemented, and by itself, the automation reduced the man-hour requirement for quarterly local privileged password change management enough to provide a complete ROI on the initial licensing investment.
Continued implementation of more of the out-of-the-box PAM functionality continues to produce man-hour savings, which frees up our security operations group to have more time to monitor, investigate, and resolve potential security issues on the network.
What is most valuable?
Our implementation is air-gapped from the outside world, and as such, we utilize a completely on-prem solution. Our highest risk is from privileged insiders, and CyberArk's answer to this challenge was the implementation of a Privileged Session Manager (PSM). With PSM, we were able to secure, control, and more importantly, monitor privileged access to highly critical network servers by using PSM to manage accounts and create detailed session audits and video recordings of all IT administrator privileged sessions on our most critical servers. The established sessions on the target systems are fully isolated and the privileged account credentials are never exposed to the end-users or their client applications and devices.
What needs improvement?
CyberArk PAM is a very broad product as everyone's requirements for implementation are different. In our particular case, the initial implementation was planned and developed by people who didn't know our specific network requirements, so the initial implementation needed to be tweaked over time. While this is normal, at the time all these "major" changes required CyberArk professional services to come in-plant and "assist" with the changes.
Over time, the CyberArk product team has made this process simpler and has enabled more local administrator configuration and update functionality, which doesn't require sub-contracts.
For how long have I used the solution?
Our program has been using CyberArk since 2014, although it was not fully implementated until I took it over in 2017.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is very stable, limited only by the Windows Operating System is it built upon.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This product seems to be scalable to any size. Providing vault cluster services, distributed vaults, and DR vault implementations, the product is truly ready for global implementation.
How are customer service and support?
Tier One customer service is not as responsive or as knowledgeable as I would like, however, once your service request is sent to a Tier Two support engineer, the knowledge and experience level increases dramatically.
In addition, within the CyberArk support environment, Technical forums are available in which other customers are very willing to share their experience, and offer possible solutions to non-critical issues.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
This was an initial implementation to meet the regulatory requirements of a federal customer.
How was the initial setup?
In our specific case, the initial setup and configuration were very complex, which was a result of the initial design being developed by our internal engineers and CyberArk professional services, neither of which had the "tribal knowledge" of how the network functioned, or how the processes of network engineering and security had been implemented.
What about the implementation team?
The initial implementation was a joint project with CyberArk Professional Services and our internal Systems Engineers. The Professional Services engineers were very knowledgeable regarding the implementation of their products.
What was our ROI?
Our program realized the total ROI after the implementation of policy-based automated password change management, which resulted in a significant reduction in man-hours required to conduct password change management (PCM) on a multitude of network elements.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
For licensing on a localized on-prem installation, the CorePAS licensing model enables the most critical component products within the PAM stack, enabling multiple layers of security which can take a while to implement.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
At the time of the initial implementation (2013-2014), after looking at the field of available products, CyberArk PAM was significantly more mature than the other available products. For that reason, CyberArk PAM was selected.
What other advice do I have?
The greatest issue that I experienced with the implementation of the CyberArk PAM solution was inter-departmental politics regarding change. To resolve this, I relied on the CyberArk Customer Success team to assist with developing a strategy to get all of the stakeholders to accept the changes. Every CyberArk administrator needs to spend time learning about their customer success team since their purpose is to assist with making sure you have the knowledge you need to make sure your implementation is successful.
A highly scalable PAM solution that needs to improve its GUI
What is our primary use case?
My company uses CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault for privileged access management, a domain that the product fits under. CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault involves password rotations, recording of sessions, keystrokes, and securing sessions, which all come under the same category in the solution.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it's the best in the market. I haven't seen any other PAM solutions better than CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault.
What needs improvement?
CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault's GUI has certain shortcomings that need improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault for two years. I use the solution's latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable solution, but sometimes its GUI lags if the load gets too much. If you try to click some buttons, responding will take five seconds instead of just responding immediately.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a highly scalable solution.
My company has around 500 uses of the solution and 3,000 to 4,000 accounts, which can be scaled up to 10,000 or 15,000 accounts.
My company does not have plans to increase the usage of the solution.
How are customer service and support?
I am not an admirer of the product's technical support team. The product's technical support team doesn't know the product well enough to give customers suggestions, so they need to work on that part.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
BeyondTrust and LastPass were the two solutions I had used in the past.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault is quite complicated, but if you follow the documentation, I don't think you should have any issues. The issues are only with the solution's support team and the GUI.
The initial deployment just takes about five days to a week if you have got all the network architecture right.
If you don't get the network architecture right, then the deployment could take two or three weeks.
For the deployment process, you should ensure you have some open IP ranges because CyberArk needs to talk to the cloud at its end, so you need to allow certain IPs to make certain connections, after which you need infrastructure and servers in place.
There is a Zip file for your environment, like an image you download from their website, which CyberArk's partners can access. Once you download the Zip file, there are a few scripts to run, and if the scripts run properly, your environment will be set up properly, after which you deploy the connector.
There is a need for an architect who is an expert in CyberArk and networking for the deployment and maintenance, along with one senior engineer.
What was our ROI?
The ROI for the solution is good because if you deploy the product, then you will not face any issues for five to ten years, especially if you manage it well.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Payments have to be made on a yearly basis toward the licensing costs of the solution.
I would say that the solution is expensive because it's only preferred by the top-tier companies involved in banking or insurance who have no problem with budgets for their cybersecurity. A medium or small-sized company would prefer to use some other solution over CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
was not part of the evaluation process in my company. I wouldn't know why my company chose CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault over other products. I can say that I am comfortable with CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend the solution to those planning to use it. I suggest that CyberArk's potential users invest in getting their own IT environments working perfectly before involving a team of CyberArk-certified engineers since it makes the process a lot easier. If you don't follow the aforementioned steps, then you will find yourself going back and forth to the product's support team, which will take you ages because they take time to respond.
I rate the overall solution a seven out of ten.