Attackers don’t start with domain admin credentials. They start with whatever they can get and work their way up. That stolen password from the phishing email? It’s just the first step in a systematic climb through your network’s privilege structure.

The real damage doesn’t happen during that initial compromise. It happens in the minutes and hours afterward, when attackers begin their methodical journey through your identity infrastructure.

What Happens After the Initial Breach

When attackers gain unauthorized access to a user account, they don’t immediately go for the payday. They’re smarter than that. Instead, they start building a detailed map of your network’s privilege structure, cataloging accessible systems, and identifying trust relationships between accounts. They’re looking for the privilege paths that will get them closer to your most valuable assets.

This isn’t random poking around. Modern identity-based threats follow established methodologies that most organizations aren’t equipped to detect or stop.

The Standing Privilege Problem

The unfortunate reality is that most business environments make this exploration incredibly easy. The typical enterprise user has permanent local administrator rights on their workstation. From a productivity standpoint, this makes sense: users can install software, configure settings, and troubleshoot problems without waiting for IT support.

From a security perspective, it’s a nightmare.

When attackers compromise user accounts with local admin privileges, they’ve essentially been handed the keys to privilege escalation. Using readily available tools, they can extract cached credentials, access local security databases, and pivot to other systems with the same ease that legitimate users install their favorite applications.

Enterprise networks frequently contain users outside domain admin groups who still possess permissions necessary for privilege escalation attacks. That’s not just a small security gap; it’s a major vulnerability that attackers can use to navigate your network.

The Scale and Visibility Challenge

The problem gets worse when you consider the scale. Large organizations manage thousands of endpoints, often with inconsistent privilege management across different departments, locations, and business units. Traditional security approaches focus heavily on perimeter defense and server security, while endpoints are treated as “just user machines.”

This creates massive visibility gaps. Shadow IT proliferates. Undocumented admin access spreads. Users gain elevated privileges for legitimate business reasons and then keep them indefinitely. Each of these represents a potential escalation path that attackers can exploit.

Remote work has amplified these challenges exponentially. Distributed workforces mean more endpoints outside direct IT control, more cloud services with varying security configurations, and more opportunities for identity threats to take root and spread undetected.

Breaking the Chain with Privileged Access Management

The most effective way to stop identity-based attacks isn’t to prevent every initial compromise (that’s nearly impossible in today’s threat environment). Instead, the goal is to break the attack chain by eliminating the privilege escalation opportunities that turn minor breaches into major disasters. Privileged Access Management (PAM) is the answer.

The Critical Intervention Point

Think of privileges as chokepoints in your security setup. When attackers can’t escalate their access, they’re stuck with whatever limited permissions they started with. A compromised standard user account can’t do much damage.

Instead of permanent elevated access, organizations need zero standing privileges as their default setup. Users get the minimum permissions necessary for their role, with the ability to temporarily elevate access only when specific business tasks require it.

Just-in-Time Privilege Management

Modern PAM solutions make this practical without destroying productivity. Admin By Request’s Endpoint Privilege Management product exemplifies this approach: users can request elevation for specific applications when they need it, receive time-limited administrative access, and automatically return to standard permissions when the task is complete.

Every elevation request creates a full audit trail. IT teams can see exactly which applications needed elevated access, when the elevation happened, and which user requested it. This visibility changes security from reactive damage control to proactive risk management.

The beauty of this approach is that legitimate users barely notice the change. They still get the administrative access they need for software installations, printer configurations, and system troubleshooting. The difference is that attackers using compromised credentials hit a wall when they try to escalate privileges.

Real-World PAM Implementation: Enterprise Success Stories

Let’s look at how three different organizations implemented these strategies successfully.

Coop Sweden: Scale and Visibility Challenge

At the time, Coop managed 4,300 Windows endpoints across 650 retail locations throughout Sweden. When they investigated their privilege landscape, they discovered a shocking reality: up to 1,000 employees had permanent administrative access to company devices, with no system in place to control or monitor these privileged users.

The challenge wasn’t just the number of unnecessary admin accounts. It was the complete lack of visibility into what these users were actually doing with their elevated privileges across hundreds of remote locations.

Coop deployed Admin By Request EPM (at the time called Admin By Request PAM) as part of a comprehensive IT modernization that included Microsoft Intune adoption. The results were immediate and measurable. They achieved complete oversight of all administrative activity and saw a 25% reduction in Service Desk cases as users gained the ability to safely handle routine administrative tasks themselves.

“Admin by request has made our IT delivery more secure as we now have control over when and why administrative rights are needed,” explains their IT team. “Everything is logged in an easy-to-use web interface, and we no longer have lots of local administrators that we can’t keep track of.”

Atlantic Technological University: Precision Control at Scale

ATU had 4,000 endpoints supporting 22,000 students and 2,700 staff members across nine locations in Ireland. The challenge wasn’t just scale: it was diversity. Different user groups had completely different needs for elevated access, from students requiring basic software installations to IT staff needing comprehensive system administration capabilities.

The university implemented our EPM product to achieve what they called “surgical precision” in privilege management. Instead of broad administrative groups, they used granular Pre-Approval features to automatically grant elevation for trusted applications while requiring manual approval for unknown software.

The results speak for themselves. ATU replaced Microsoft LAPS entirely, eliminated the need for administrative sessions for routine software installations, and achieved full compliance with regulatory requirements. Most importantly, they reduced their attack surface dramatically while actually improving user productivity.

“Admin By Request has been fundamental to adopting a secure least privilege model,” explains their IT team. “Our users can install software without being administrators, and technical staff can support users with administrative privileges using the Support Assist feature when needed.”

ATU’s approach shows how you can get precise security control even when managing diverse user groups. Instead of broad admin permissions, they focused on elevating specific applications rather than entire user accounts. This gave them a security setup that actually grows with their organization instead of becoming more complex.

ADVA Optical Networking: Proactive Security Transformation

ADVA, a global telecommunications leader with 2,500 endpoints across 13 sites in 8 countries, took a proactive approach to identity security. Rather than waiting for a security incident, they identified widespread local admin rights as a fundamental risk to their operations.

Their phased deployment strategy started with the IT department, then expanded location by location over six months. This approach allowed them to test and refine policies while maintaining business continuity throughout the transition.

The outcome was remarkable: complete removal of permanent admin rights across the entire organization without any productivity loss. Users adapted quickly to the new elevation model, and IT gained unprecedented visibility into privilege usage patterns.

“Admin By Request has helped us remove employees from the local Administrator group in Windows while still allowing them to do their job,” notes Tim Duggan, IT Director. “They are able to quickly and easily get Administrator permissions to install software or change settings without permanent Administrator rights. This drastically reduces the chances of Malware infections through email or web browsing.”

Implementation Strategy & Business Impact

Based on these three case studies, here’s the implementation approach that worked:

Assessment Phase: Start with a comprehensive audit of current privilege assignments across your environment. Identify which users have administrative access, which applications require elevation, and where the biggest risks exist. This baseline becomes the foundation for intelligent policy development.

Pilot Approach: Begin with IT teams who understand the security implications and can provide detailed feedback on policy configurations. ADVA’s strategy of starting with their IT department proved this approach works well. Test different elevation modes, approval workflows, and monitoring capabilities in a controlled environment before expanding to broader user populations.

Phased Enterprise Rollout: Deploy department by department, using lessons learned from each phase to refine policies and procedures. Coop’s approach of combining EPM deployment with broader IT modernization shows how privilege management can be part of larger transformation initiatives. This approach allows for continuous improvement while maintaining business continuity throughout the transition.

Advanced Capabilities: As the system matures, make use of features like machine learning for intelligent auto-approval of trusted applications and behavioral analytics to identify potential security anomalies.

Measuring Success

Modern identity security solutions provide visibility into privilege usage patterns that was impossible before. Organizations can track metrics like elevation frequency, application approval rates, and security incident correlation to demonstrate both security improvements and operational efficiency gains.

This data helps with continuous improvement. Policies can be refined based on actual usage patterns, security teams can identify trends that indicate emerging threats or new business requirements, and business leaders can see the value of security investments in concrete terms.

It’s Time to Stonewall Attackers (Before They Get In)

Identity-based attacks succeed because they exploit the gap between initial compromise and privilege escalation. Traditional security approaches focus on preventing the initial breach, but the real battle happens afterward, when attackers systematically explore your privilege structure looking for escalation opportunities.

Organizations that implement modern privilege management strategies cut off the persistent access that attackers depend on. They transform potentially serious breaches into minor security incidents that can be contained and remediated quickly. The technology exists today to put these strategies into practice at enterprise scale. The question isn’t whether your organization can afford to modernize its identity security setup… it’s whether you can afford not to.

Ready to strengthen your identity security posture? Request a demo to see how our products stop real-world attacks, or download our free plan to begin testing these solutions in your environment today.