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Temitope Popoola - PeerSpot reviewer
Specialist, Server Administration at IHS Towers
Real User
Allows us to set access duration and monitor every activity, and is helpful for meeting audit and compliance requirements
Pros and Cons
  • "One of the features that I really like about it is the ability to set a start date, time, and end date for the access. For example, you can set the access for a person from tomorrow, Monday, or Tuesday and ending on a specific period of the day or a specific date. That's really quite helpful."
  • "At the moment, I don't see any major problems with it. If anything, they can just change the look and feel of the login screen because it looks too simple to me. It does not have so much information. When you get to the login screen of the solution, you should have more information. We also have BeyondTrust Remote Support, and the login page looks similar to BeyondTrust Privilege Remote Access. I would love to see more rich information on the login screen or landing page so that rather than having a regular sign-in screen or page where you just provide a username and password and get into the solution, you should have more insight into what the solution does. I've mentioned this to them every time I have had an opportunity."

What is our primary use case?

Our company has been growing, and we have many audits as well as SOX compliance requirements. We have different SOX requirements, and we wanted to ensure that every activity is monitored. That was the main reason for deploying this solution into the environment.

We are using it like a VPN access for our external users, such as vendors, to allow them to access the resources within the organization. Instead of providing them the regular VPN access, we give them access to the privileged access solution so that we can monitor what they are doing, and we are able to view back the recordings of all the activities they've done.

We have not integrated Privileged Remote Access (PRA) with other solutions at the moment. We also have another solution of BeyondTrust. We have integrated that solution with other solutions, but we haven’t integrated PRA with other solutions. We just use it for remote access and credential injection.

How has it helped my organization?

It has put us at the forefront when it comes to security, auditing, and meeting SOX requirements. It is a top-notch solution for us in these aspects. Security is the key to fulfilling SOX requirements. Ever since we deployed it, we are able to provide external auditors, who audit the company, with recordings of who is in the environment. We are able to see what is happening. We are able to provide access durations and show who is accessing what and who has been given permission to access. It has really helped us in those aspects.

The fact that PRA does not require a VPN goes a long way for us because instead of our external users installing different VPN applications and having different user names and passwords for different applications, they can just make use of it via the web. They don't need to install an application, which is a very cool and nice feature for us.

In terms of security provided by PRA when it comes to access for remote and privileged users, the users get to access only what they are permitted to access. They can't go beyond what they're allowed to access. You don't have to give anybody the credentials to privilege accounts. The solution allows you to do account injection while you are using the solution, which is really good for us. So, you can do credential injection while accessing the solution, which is a top-notch security feature for us where you get to manage privileged credentials within the organization.

It is available in multiple formats. It is available as a physical and virtual appliance, or as SaaS. When we did the PoC, it was before COVID. We did the on-prem deployment for the PoC, but immediately after the PoC, COVID came, and we started to think of what will happen when we are not physically present. So, we had to go for the cloud solution, which is quite cool as well. It takes the burden away from IT admins, and we don't have to think of how many servers we have to manage.

It is important that through the use of PRA, there is no need to share passwords with users. We are able to do credential injection where you don't get to give users privileged user accounts. With the solution, we're able to do the privilege injection, which makes it perfect for us. Nobody gets to hold onto the privileged accounts. With the solution, we are able to inject it, which is good for us.

We are mainly using it to give access to third-party vendors. In order to ensure that we monitor the activities of what they're doing, we use PRA for their access. All our external users come in through PRA. For every internal user, we use the regular VPN. We are also looking into the cost of getting more PRA licenses if we are going to put every other user in the company on it.

We have integrated it with our Active Directory, which allows us to apply our Active Directory password policies. We don't need to create any other user account for whoever is coming in. We just get to create a user in Active Directory, and password policies are already applied. So, users come in by using the Active Directory credentials, which is another level of security as well.

What is most valuable?

One of the features that I really like about it is the ability to set a start date, time, and end date for the access. For example, you can set the access for a person from tomorrow, Monday, or Tuesday and ending on a specific period of the day or a specific date. That's really quite helpful.

You can use the solution to access not just the Windows environment; you can also access your Linux devices and even your network devices. That's a very cool feature for us.

What needs improvement?

At the moment, I don't see any major problems with it. If anything, they can just change the look and feel of the login screen because it looks too simple to me. It does not have so much information. When you get to the login screen of the solution, you should have more information. We also have BeyondTrust Remote Support, and the login page looks similar to BeyondTrust Privilege Remote Access. I would love to see more rich information on the login screen or landing page so that rather than having a regular sign-in screen or page where you just provide a username and password and get into the solution, you should have more insight into what the solution does. I've mentioned this to them every time I have had an opportunity.

Buyer's Guide
BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

It was deployed last year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Its stability is good. It is top-notch. They are doing well because I can see the way they do release updates for the solution. They are also at the top in terms of security updates, vulnerability assessments, and other things that are currently happening. They are doing well in terms of updates, which are also helpful in stabilizing the solution. With regular updates, you get a stable solution and also more improvements and features.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We are using cloud deployment. When you have a cloud SaaS solution as compared to having it in your own cloud environment or on-prem, you do not get to have much say on scalability. If you have deployed it within your environment, you get to see how to scale it up or scale it down, but when it is a cloud solution, you don't get to see what happens on the provider side. However, you get to know that at least you have been provided what you have paid for, and it is working perfectly. So, for me, scalability comes into the picture if I am managing the infrastructure within my environment, but that doesn't mean you can't talk to your provider to tell them that you want to include other things in the solution.

How are customer service and support?

Their technical support is good. At any point in time, when I needed support, they responded quickly. There was a time when the local vendor reached out to us that there is a new upgrade, but on logging onto the platform, we couldn't see the update available. We reached out to their support, and the support personnel who picked up the case told us to give him just five minutes, and he will ensure that the update is available. Their technical support is beyond cool. I would rate them a nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We didn't use any similar solution previously.

How was the initial setup?

We went for the SaaS solution. They provided the platform and the access to the UI to the local vendor, who is a product partner. 

What about the implementation team?

Three people were involved in its deployment. One engineer from the local vendor worked with two people from my end. One of them was from the server side, and the other one was from the networking side. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We didn't evaluate any other solution. We were already using BeyondTrust Remote Support to support our client's computers. It was deployed during the COVID period. Initially, it was implemented because management was thinking about how IT would manage the situation when working from home. The users had no credentials. With remote support, we were able to do that perfectly, which also gave us assurance that BeyondTrust PRA would work well for us, and we won't have any issues with it. So, the management was able to sell PRA to the top management. There wasn’t much discussion about it because of the previous experience that we had with BeyondTrust Remote Support. It has already paved the way for PRA to come into the environment.

What other advice do I have?

I would tell others to just go for it. If they are security conscious and are concerned about security within their environment, then just go for it.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Sorin Hrincu - PeerSpot reviewer
PAM SecOps Team Manager at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
MSP
Top 10
A reliable PAM that eliminates the need for a VPN and allows integration with authentication providers
Pros and Cons
  • "The privileged remote access platform is able to track and record everything that happens within a session."
  • "When doing protocol panel jumps, the tool does not restrict what is recorded on the user's computer."

What is our primary use case?

We are an MSP, and we have customers actively using the solutions and the services. We do the backend administration and implementation, troubleshooting and incident handling, and other things like that.

Our use cases include adding users, adding environments to the system, and general and advanced configurations for users and environments. Those are just the standard regular use cases. Other than those, we handle platform maintenance, and platform restoration and recovery in case of an incident.

We also use PRA to provide access to third-party vendors. It restricts access only to the devices and only to a certain section of that device or environment that the vendor would need to access. It can also limit access in terms of time and time of day. Access can be subject to approval, which adds an additional layer of security, and we can also set in advance the number of days that that vendor will have access through PRA.

How has it helped my organization?

Since PRA eliminates the need for a VPN, this has translated into cost reduction and reduced complexity. PRA has eliminated the human factor from managing critical credentials; it has restricted access only to specified devices and only on specific ports. The solution provides very restricted and very specific access, both in terms of the endpoints of devices being accessed and in terms of the protocols that are available to initiate the session.

What is most valuable?

The auditing capabilities are valuable because of the fact that the Privileged Remote Access platform can track and record everything that happens within a session. The solution also has integration with authentication providers, which is critically important. It allows multiple-factor authentication and also allows us to configure access based on groups and organizational units.

One of the most critical features is that PRA eliminates the need for a VPN. The fact that PRA can establish secure encrypted connections and limit those connections only to certain protocols eliminates the need to have one or multiple VPNs and administer and manage all of them. 

Another critical feature of not needing to use VPNs is that it also reduces the number of individuals who would have access to critical information, like authentication for those VPNs. I rate the security provided by PRA when it comes to access for remote and privileged users a four out of five.

Lastly, managing access through PRA rather than VPN is much more convenient, much more granular, and more efficient.

What needs improvement?

Firstly, when doing protocol panel jumps, the tool does not restrict what is recorded on the user's computer. So if a user has, let's say, three desktop monitors, the tool will expand to the entire desktop and record everything that happens on those screens, and not in the PRA window alone. Since a lot of people hold sensitive information outside of the PRA window, this creates some friction because they do not want that information recorded.

Restricting the recording to the PRA window during a protocol tunnel jump will be an improvement.

The second improvement is that PRA could be more flexible with privilege elevation on Linux endpoints.

The third improvement is that PRA should have more connectors for the most common applications it integrates with.

For how long have I used the solution?

I was certified by the vendor a year ago, but I used BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access a little bit before I got certified. I do administration and implementation for the solution.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable, there is nothing to complain about there.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

PRA is not very scalable in its current form. We currently have an active/passive configuration, but should we change that to an active/active configuration, the entire underlying infrastructure would become ten times more complex and would require significant costs with licensing and resources, having to configure that underlying infrastructure. That would make everything at least five times more complex and more costly, so PRA is not scalable in its current form.

We have 300 users in my company and 150 users from our customers using PRA.

How are customer service and support?

We have regularly scheduled calls with a technical account representative every two weeks, and we are in constant contact with their support department, if not on a daily basis, at least every other day. The technical support is excellent.

Customer support is always very responsive, they are very customer-oriented in that they are always keen on understanding the use case, the fault and what solution would be best suited to the environment. They are always willing to take the extra step to go above and beyond to find some exotic solution or approach for our specific needs. And they are always very patient.

It wasn't just once that they stepped outside the contractual agreement, they went above and beyond to give us the best support and the best solution.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I used CyberArk, but very slightly. I also used ManageEngine.

Since we are a managed service provider, ManageEngine did not fit with our profile, and we needed a solution we can deliver to multiple customers at the same time in a shared or private manner. Secondly, from a licensing perspective, ManageEngine was slightly costlier, based on how it was implemented from our side.

How was the initial setup?

The setup was mildly complex. It took four working days from the moment we received the appliance from BeyondTrust until we had the application ready to start onboarding stuff.

We implemented PRA in an active/passive configuration, integrated with Password Safe. It is not open to the Internet and can connect to only one destination via proxy.

Since PRA lacks connectors with applications it integrates with, we had to build them ourselves.

What about the implementation team?

All implementation was done in-house with support and consultancy from BeyondTrust. We had three permanent people involved in the initial setup, myself included, with an individual from BeyondTrust providing advice and consultancy from time to time.

What was our ROI?


What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

PRA's pricing is competitive, but since we are one of the major customers, we might be benefitting from different discounts and pricing.

What other advice do I have?

Note that we do not use BeyondTrust Vault since it is not an enterprise-grade vaulting solution, which is why we use Password Safe since that is an enterprise-grade vaulting solution.

Initially, we only went for the SaaS solution, and customer-related constraints made us deploy it on-prem as well. But when we chose BeyondTrust PRA, we were only considering SaaS.

PRA can also be used to manage network devices. It brings the same level of security into managing networks. It eliminates VPNs, especially multiple VPNs. Through the use of PRA, there is no need to share passwords with users, which is critically important.

We don't necessarily use PRA as a full solution, but it adds an additional layer of security by having the enterprise vaulting solution, which is Password Safe, and PRA separate. That also makes things more efficient in that when configuring PRA, we only focus on the connectivity and the session from PRA, we don't worry about the account management.

If you compare PRA to CyberArk, it's just as good. There is nothing that one solution has over the other. These are the two market solutions that are usually compared since they are pretty much on par. ManageEngine, at least in the incarnation that we were using, was more limited when it came to auditing and reviewing sessions.

I advise engineers choosing a PAM solution to be very careful. One important aspect when reviewing is the high availability capabilities, and the second aspect is the integration capabilities with other BeyondTrust products or other products in that customer environment.

I rate PRA an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Security Analyst at Secland
Real User
Improved our network external access, which has been beneficial for our network security
Pros and Cons
  • "PRA stands on its own as a full solution. This is important because it reduces the need to maintain a lot of different services. Also, the integration between those services are sometimes not easy to maintain. So, having a solution like BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access reducing our workload gives us enough time to work on our other issues. The system just runs and does what it is supposed to do."
  • "The solution's Vault is a nice feature. It helps to securely share a security password in teams, but it is not at the level of a password management solution. So, it is just really a vault. We were expecting to have more features to better manage passwords, but that is something that you can work around if you also have a password safe solution. I would like them to have features like password rotation or password auditing, e.g., old passwords."

What is our primary use case?

It is used for remote access for all our partners. We bought it to replace our VPN connection for all our third-party partners and providers.

All our sensitive services are required to be hosted on-premises. That is why we needed something that offered an on-premises solution.

How has it helped my organization?

It has almost removed all the burdens that we had due to partner interactions via the VPN. The portal is easy to use and the self-service is really well-designed. End users are able to work without a lot of intervention from our teams. Also, when there is an issue with a password or two-factor authentication, they can reset it using the self-service option. There is not much to do now when supporting external partners.

Privileged Remote Access has improved external access to our network, which has had a positive impact on our network security.

It is very important to us that, through use of PRA, there isn't a need to share passwords with users. One of the basic best practices for securities is to avoid sharing passwords. We try to enforce this in our organization, so this is something that is mandatory for us.

It is used 90% of the time by external vendors and partners. That is the main reason why we bought this product. In terms of an attack in the network, PRA limits the possibility of access into our internal networks. The only point where they have access is PRA. According to its design, you can only access what has been configured. At the end of the day, we don't worry about what the external vendor can access on our internal network. We are just working on making sure that we give them the highest access to PRA.

In terms of security, PRA offers SSO authentication, which is a plus. It is very important to limit the use of multiple passwords, then we can just help a user focus on their jobs, not handling data passwords. 

What is most valuable?

I like the ability to have locks on every session and connection that happens on our system from the outside. So, we can do a review or investigation if something happens.

The proxy mode allows us to reproduce our attack surface.

It is really secure for remote and privileged users. It has helped us to go into detail on what someone can or cannot do on each system.

We can find real information that we need in terms of auditing and access using the Vault feature. In terms of visibility, we have all the information that we need.

PRA stands on its own as a full solution. This is important because it reduces the need to maintain a lot of different services. Also, the integration between those services are sometimes not easy to maintain. So, having a solution like BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access reducing our workload gives us enough time to work on our other issues. The system just runs and does what it is supposed to do.

What needs improvement?

The solution's Vault is a nice feature. It helps to securely share a security password in teams, but it is not at the level of a password management solution. So, it is just really a vault. We were expecting to have more features to better manage passwords, but that is something that you can work around if you also have a password safe solution. I would like them to have features like password rotation or password auditing, e.g., old passwords.

I would like to improve access to the web application, simplifying the web jumps. I would also like them to improve the Vault, which should have features closer to a light password management solution.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using it for two and a half years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The system is stable. Updates don't require a lot of work to implement. I haven't had to do a callback after a deployment or upgrade.

Two people from our team are needed for deployment and maintenance.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable, though we haven't utilized that yet.

We have around 50 users utilizing the system. Four of those are admins.

We are using the solution extensively for 100% of our needs. We are not looking to add more users to the solution at this time. If we extend our partnership to more vendors, then we might consider extending our use of the solution.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is good. Their knowledge base is well-documented. I would rate the support as nine out of 10.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were using a VPN solution that allowed external parties to have more access and capabilities on our network. Whereas, with PRA, all access is handled by the server, though there isn't a direct connection to the end server. This limits the access and capabilities of external checks on our Internet networks. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward.

It took about a week to have all our systems up and running on PRA as well as have our vendors connected to the system.

What about the implementation team?

We went from training to the initial deployment with BeyondTrust's Professional Services. Then, our teams handled the next step of the deployment, which was onboarding all our systems. After that, we started the migration from all our VPN solutions to PRA with our end users. We did a few parallel runs between PRA and the old solution, then we went full-on into production.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

PRA was one of the cheapest solutions that we evaluated.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did tests before purchasing the solution. We tested three other solutions. PRA's auditing was the best. It provides a lot of information. It even lets you search through video logs, which was something that we really liked.

I recommend testing some other solutions then trying Privileged Remote Access. You will notice the difference. It is robust and easy to use with many good features, like the SSO.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate the solution between eight and a half and nine (out of 10).

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1873317 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Cyber Security Manager at Honeywell International Inc.
Real User
Lacks MFA at the endpoint, though it meets our requirements for safe controls and just-in-time access
Pros and Cons
  • "The visibility of the solution's Vault works as it is supposed to: out-of-the-box for domain accounts, endpoints, and local accounts associated with discovery jobs."
  • "One of our gaps or pain points is having multi-factor authentication at the endpoint and using the PRA password injection from BeyondTrust, which does not work in our environment. We can only have MFA at the login of BeyondTrust to check out the password. Therefore, we can't meet our security requirements of having it on the endpoint."

What is our primary use case?

We have two use cases. We have it for the PAM, Privileged Identity (PI), the Vault solution, and Password List. We also have it on the desktop side of the house for our admin accounts.

Our network requires that Privileged Remote Access (PRA) does not require a VPN.

We are extensively using Privileged Identity, but not PRA.

We are one version back from the latest.

How has it helped my organization?

PRA only works in our Windows environment. It has helped us with not being able to see the password for our security reasons, but only in a subset of our environment. We only use it for password injection. We wanted it for all platforms, but it doesn't work. So, it is only used in our Windows environment.

It met a NIS control in which we needed to not have passwords visible to users because of malicious activity that happened to our company. That is the only positive effect that it has had so far. We have been able to go to the Windows platform and inject the passwords without people viewing passwords. It is not helping us with our Linux or cloud environments.

For the most part, it has been meeting our requirements for safe controls and just-in-time access.

What is most valuable?

It has been semi-easy to configure.

The visibility of the solution's Vault works as it is supposed to: out-of-the-box for domain accounts, endpoints, and local accounts associated with discovery jobs.

It is important to us that PRA offers SSO authentication. Our strategic requirements for NIS control, CCMC, and other regulations want us to do multifactor and single sign-on. 

What needs improvement?

We have been having some problems as of late.

One of our gaps or pain points is having multi-factor authentication at the endpoint and using the PRA password injection from BeyondTrust, which does not work in our environment. We can only have MFA at the login of BeyondTrust to check out the password. Therefore, we can't meet our security requirements of having it on the endpoint.

The solution's Vault seems to do what we need. It has some gaps when it is trying to process the password through multiple applications. If it fails, it doesn't notify us that it has failed. So, we only find that failure when we have an escalation or have to go back through to see what has happened, e.g., why the password didn't reset accurately. While it has some gaps, it works for the scenario that we need for the most part.

When we decided on this solution, it was extremely important to us that PRA was available in multiple formats, such as a physical and virtual appliance or as SaaS. Unfortunately, we can't use PRA because of our environment, which was disheartening. When we were sold the tool, they said that we could, but we can't because our environment is highly customized. We have so many use cases that it is not a feature that can be used across platforms for us.

We use PI and PRA together. If someone has checked out an account in PI, the session is open, and PI closed or checked back that account. Then, someone else checks out an account that is still active in a session, which causes multiple lockouts.

For how long have I used the solution?

10 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is not good. It has been taking over a year to get our platform. BeyondTrust hasn't been able to figure out what's wrong or why. We have been notified just recently, as of Friday, of two additional bugs in PRA. I don't consider this tool stable if there are bugs.

I have an internal team who manages all maintenance, batching, and fixing.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I don't have a good impression of scalability because we can't get past having a Windows platform.

We have over 130,000 people in our company. Only 100 people are able to use it because that is the amount of servers that we can deploy.

How are customer service and support?

We have a dedicated TAM. We have a dedicated technical manager who helps us with any questions or deployment issues. We create tickets, working through him, and he goes to Level 3 if needed.

We have about 10 tickets open. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We started with PI when it was Bomgar and Lieberman. We have also been using the Vault solution. Last year, we purchased PRA to help with our mitigation of malicious findings from a major outage from the malicious findings.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was a bit confusing. We had to have our TAM help. We had problems right out of the box. It was not a smooth setup for us.

We have been trying for over a year. We only have 8,000 out of 26,000 servers deployed. It is not fully deployed because we don't have all our platforms working with PRA. 

We wanted all servers in our environment on all our platforms to have password injection, helping with the malicious activity and stopping people from seeing passwords. We were trying to meet some findings, but we didn't meet those findings.

What about the implementation team?

We have a dedicated TAM from BeyondTrust, whom we pay for through an annual contract, and they help us.

What was our ROI?

We have not seen ROI when it comes to PRA.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Be cautious about:

  • The number of licenses.
  • What you consider a license does.
  • Who your members are. 

Don't get into a situation where you are licensing per desktop or per person until you fully understand the licensing.

We pay an additional fee for a TAM.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

After the PRA situation that we have been having for a year, we have been looking at other tools that can meet our requirements better than BeyondTrust. We are trying to move to other different modules.

We would like to use PRA, but it is not meeting our requirements for our different platforms. So, we are moving the password protection possibly to EPM because PRA cannot meet our requirements.

What other advice do I have?

Know the requirements that you are trying to meet. This way, you purchase the correct module for the requirements that you are trying to meet. PRA is not always the correct module for certain requirements that you need if your environment isn't straightforward with only one operating system. If you are only in Azure and Windows, it probably works very well. However, if you have a hybrid or multiple platforms, then it is not the best tool.

For PRA specifically, our requirements weren't understood from point one. Our TAM said it would work, and once we got into it, it did not work. 

I would rate PRA as five out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Lead consultant at Aujas cybersecurity
Real User
Secure, easy to implement and use, and does not require a VPN
Pros and Cons
  • "When it comes to the Privileged Remote Access (PRA) solution, instead of depending on a VPN client, from Cisco or any other vendor, we can directly use this product from the internet. It is very easy to do the implementation, and it is easy for every user to access the server from outside of their organization. They can open the URL and put their name and password, and it'll do the multi-factor authentication. They can easily access the server. Prior to this solution, the users had to log into the VPN, which is not required with BeyondTrust. Now, they can use their computer over the internet."

    What is our primary use case?

    It is used for server access. I am using the latest version. Initially, I started with 10.6, and now, I am on the latest version.

    It is currently on-premises, and down the line, we will be moving to the cloud. As of now, we have physical appliances for PRA. We do have plans to move the cloud. We've added two more servers at our end, and they will be moved to the cloud. 

    How has it helped my organization?

    Our client was using a different product, and they were not able to manage some critical parts. So, they started looking for a replacement, and they found BeyondTrust. As soon as they brought in this product, it was a very easy configuration. Implementing this product was very easy. It doesn't require much. It is very simple, and we can implement it in a week or two, which is what I like about BeyondTrust. It takes much longer to bring in other products. It is also very easy to bring privileged accounts into the product. It is much easier to do management and operational tasks as compared to other solutions.

    It is very simple. You just open the URL, and you'll be able to see all your servers. Previously, it was a very tough task. There was either direct access or a VPN. There were a lot of restrictions for connecting to the VPN. There were also some other restrictions to access other products, such as if they want to go for SSO and other things. BeyondTrust is very easy. The users can open a URL, and they will be able to see all their servers. It is very easy for the users, and we are getting very good feedback from the users as well. Previously, there were multiple steps to connect, and now, there is only one step to connect to the servers remotely.

    It is a very secure product, which is very important for us. For example, there are 5 to 10 users of an application, and everybody has access to a different machine. With this product, we can easily do segregation of duties and segregation of the server connectivity. Everybody is able to see the servers, but only those people who have access will be able to log into a server with a single click. It is a great tool, and everything has improved over here. Until now, we haven't faced any issues with this product. It is very simple and secure.

    We use the vault for service account management. All the passwords and all the credentials get vaulted. In the PRA console, users can select the correct credential and log in. They don't have to know or see the actual password. Whenever a privileged account is managed by a PAM solution, there is a connector between the PRA solution and the PAM solution. This connector gets the credentials and injects them without any manual intervention. Other solutions also have this feature, but in BeyondTrust, it is very simple and different. The connector does all the work in the background.

    It does good discovery. When we are trying to pull the local accounts, every local account is visible in the scanned report, and we can easily identify that this is a local account. We'll also be able to get a list of the domain accounts parallelly. There is a clear set of data indicating whether an account is a domain account or a local account. For cross verification, we also check with the application team whether these accounts are domain accounts or local accounts. The scanner works very well for us.

    We can bring all kinds of accounts into the solution. Most products target privileged accounts or the accounts with privileged access. With this product, you can segregate a privileged account, a local account, and a normal account or a user account with the least privilege. All these accounts can be brought into the solution.

    Through the use of PRA, there is no need to share passwords with users. There is no password sharing. Everything is vaulted. There are two types of integration in PRA. One is with the privileged accounts that are already managed by the PAM solution. The other one is with the least privileged accounts, such as a local account or a test account. Those accounts will be managed by the end-users. If I have the access to the privileged account, my password will be injected from the other solution by using the connector from PAM to PRA. If I have a local account on a test server or a development environment, the connection will be initiated from the PRA solution, and it'll be encrypted and monitored. All other features will also be there. I only have to key in the password.

    We use the solution to provide access to third-party vendors. We can't create an AD account or some other account for the vendors in my organization because of some security and violation concerns. With the PRA solution, it is very easy. I can just add or create an account, and I can map this account only for the PRA solution. Whenever they log in, all the sessions are recorded. In case of any violation or issue, I have the recorded session. I can go and check what happened to the server. This way, it helps the vendors a lot, and a vendor doesn't need my intervention whenever they want to log in, even if he is in a different timezone. Previously, I had to be available for the session. I used to share the session via some other third-party platform, such as Teams or Skype, and my availability was very important. If I close the session, the session would get closed for them too.

    It offers SSO authentication. We have multi-factor authentication, and we have RADIUS and other authentications. Multi-factor authentication is mandatory across any application or any URL.

    In terms of session auditing and monitoring of third-party and remote work access, I have worked with another solution that was only for privileged accounts or privileged servers. PRA can be used for both privileged accounts and non-privileged accounts in the development environment. All transactions or accesses get checked and recorded. So, it is very easy for an administrator to manage the solution across the organization.

    What is most valuable?

    When it comes to the Privileged Remote Access (PRA) solution, instead of depending on a VPN client, from Cisco or any other vendor, we can directly use this product from the internet. It is very easy to do the implementation, and it is easy for every user to access the server from outside of their organization. They can open the URL and put their name and password, and it'll do the multi-factor authentication. They can easily access the server. Prior to this solution, the users had to log into the VPN, which is not required with BeyondTrust. Now, they can use their computer over the internet. In Privileged Access Management (PAM), the AD bridging feature where you can bring all your Linux boxes into the tool is an important feature.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using this solution for close to three years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Its stability is good.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Its scalability is very good. It makes things easier for the end-users.

    I am an administrator of the PRA here. All the users in my organization are using this. There are more than 900 users, and there are some 4,000 or 5,000 servers. It is being used on a daily basis. We are in the process of increasing its usage.

    How are customer service and support?

    Their support is very good. As soon as we log a case, their support engineers respond and help us out. The response time depends on the severity of the case. For a severity C case, they get back in a day or two. For a severity B case, they get back within 24 hours, and for severity A case, they get back immediately. They respond and resolve the issue within defined SLAs. I would rate them an eight out of ten.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

    Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

    I have worked on another solution previously, which is a market leader. I wanted to get into a product that was booming in the market. I was very focused on this solution because I knew this is going to be a market leader in the coming days. I was going through some articles on the internet, and suddenly, I got the opportunity in my company to work with BeyondTrust. I was very happy to get into this. It is working very well.

    How was the initial setup?

    I was not a part of the complete deployment. When I joined this organization, deployment was already done. Some fine-tuning was happening, and I was part of that. It took about two weeks to fine-tune it based on the requirements, and that's all.

    Overall, its setup is very simple. It would take us a week or two to bring other solutions into the organization, but we can bring in this solution within a week. We can easily bring 10 to 20 servers into the product.

    What about the implementation team?

    For its implementation, probably there was someone who helped us remotely.

    What other advice do I have?

    I have got a very good impression of BeyondTrust. It is a very good and booming product across the globe. I have been using this solution for close to three years, and I am still learning about its full capability. There is a lot to be explored.

    They provide a lot of updates, and I am able to see a lot of fine-tuning happening. We can bring our own tool, and if we have an RDP tool, that can also be integrated. They are adding many features related to reporting, connectivity, and stabilization of connectivity. They are improving their product in every aspect.

    BeyondTrust has many products such as PAM and PRA. AD bridging is also there. Specifically, with the PRA, you can ignore VPN. You don't have to pay for a license for the VPN. You can use this product.

    All servers, with privileged activities as well as those without privileged activities, are assets of the organization. They all also should be monitored and should be in the control of the organization. PRA is helpful there because you can also onboard the least privileged servers. This helps a lot because everything is recorded and monitored. The management will have a crystal clear report about who accessed them and for what. Everything will be very clear.

    I would rate this solution an eight out of ten. It makes the life of end-users easier.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Anil Kumar 1 - PeerSpot reviewer
    PAM Security Consultant at Cybersec Consulting
    Real User
    Top 5Leaderboard
    Has an efficient screen-sharing feature, but its web interface needs enhancement
    Pros and Cons
    • "Its initial setup process is straightforward."
    • "Its access process for third-party vendors needs to be simplified."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use the solution to give the network access to third-party vendors or remote basis employees. It helps us authenticate their credentials directly without a VPN connection.

    What is most valuable?

    The solution has the best screen-sharing feature. We can invite external vendors without exposing any credentials or network access to them using it.

    What needs improvement?

    The solution's access process for third-party vendors needs to be simplified. It should eliminate the process of installing client applications on users' machines for better security. Instead, we can publish a URL link for them. Also, its web interface needs enhancement as well.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We have been using the solution for four years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It is a stable solution. I rate its stability an eight out of ten.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The solution's scalability is a five or six out of ten.

    How are customer service and support?

    The solution's technical support is good. Whenever we raise any case, they try to solve it as soon as possible.

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

    How was the initial setup?

    The solution's initial setup process is straightforward. It is developed and managed by BeyondTrust itself. They provide us with the virtual appliance, and we ask the customer to deploy that profile on their server. Once the appliance is deployed, we can access the URL and start with the initial configuration. Further, it integrates with the active directory and the customer's NTP server to configure two-factor authentication. The users can easily enable it for their IDs by scanning the QR code using any authenticator app or mobile device.

    What other advice do I have?

    I advise others to use BeyondTrust if they have an existing PAM solution. It will help them with seamless access to privileged accounts and credentials. I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Implementor
    PeerSpot user
    reviewer2254515 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Presales manager at a security firm with 11-50 employees
    Real User
    Top 20
    A tool that is easy to deploy and helps facilitate the management of RDP sessions
    Pros and Cons
    • "Based on the feedback from my colleagues who have never complained about the technical support, I would say that the product's support team is good."
    • "The integration of the solution with many platforms is a difficult area to manage and needs to be made easy."

    What is our primary use case?

    My company uses BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access for privileged access management to facilitate the management of RDP sessions and the rotation of credentials or passwords.

    What is most valuable?

    The most valuable features of the solution are the seamless features that allow you to use the password without manually copying it while also providing it in a clear format. The solution's feature injects the password directly into the application you use.

    What needs improvement?

    The integration of the solution with many platforms is a difficult area to manage and needs to be made easy. For example, I don't think BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access works with products from Sophos.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access for around three months. My company has a partnership with BeyondTrust.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It is a stable tool. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight to eight and a half out of ten.

    In my company, there are less than ten users of the solution. I have dealt with my company's clients, with more than five hundred people working with the product.

    The solution can be used in small and enterprise-sized businesses.

    How are customer service and support?

    Based on the feedback from my colleagues who have never complained about the technical support, I would say that the product's support team is good.

    How was the initial setup?

    BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access is one of the easiest products to deploy.

    The solution is deployed mainly on virtual appliances.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    I rate the product's pricing a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is high, and ten is low. It is an expensive product.

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    I have only compared BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access with Delinea Secret Server till now. From a technical standpoint, Delinea has more features. From a practical point of view, I think BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access is easier to manage and deploy. I haven't worked with Delinea to be able to give an elaborate opinion about it.

    What other advice do I have?

    I rate the overall solution an eight and a half to nine out of ten.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    PeerSpot user
    CEO at MICRODYN AG
    Reseller
    Great integration capabilities with excellent support and very good ROI
    Pros and Cons
    • "The scalability is excellent."
    • "They could probably integrate a wizard or something like that to add a new use case. It could be something that makes it easier to add a new use case."

    What is our primary use case?

    We primarily use the solution for Privileged Remote Access. The primary use case is to let the suppliers connect in a very, very secure way on privileged endpoints and internal privilege endpoints or internal operators, probably from Azure. They operate something in the Azure cloud, and that's a very secure way to connect to the Azure cloud.

    What is most valuable?

    It's one of the most secure products in the market. 

    They have very good support. They have really have great support.

    It's everything that we need. It's like a Swiss knife. We can do everything with that to produce what we need for Privileged Remote Access reasons. 

    Every three to six months they bring new features like processes, access processes, and things like that, which are unique in the market. I have not seen other solutions offering what they offer.

    The documentation is really great. It's cool. You can download all the documentation you need at any time. They've done it in a great way.

    The API is great and we can automate anything that we need with the product.  

    If you know what you are doing, it's not a difficult setup.

    The solution is stable.

    The scalability is excellent. 

    The solution offers many great integrations.

    What needs improvement?

    I cannot say that the solution is lacking any features. It has everything we need right now.

    They could probably integrate a wizard or something like that to add a new use case. It could be something that makes it easier to add a new use case. That's something they could probably improve. I'm not sure about this, however, as the direction is anyway going more and more in the direction of automation. That said, for a beginner customer who is starting from scratch, probably a wizard would be a good feature to add.

    The on-premises version is not as easy to set up as a cloud deployment,

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We've used the solution for about five years. We started using it pretty much from the moment it came out. We have worked with the solution for a while. We've benn BeyondTrust resellers, however, for 15 years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It's got great stability. It's really great. In all the 15 years I used the remote support solution, and the five years we used the PRA solution, we never have seen an unstable situation with any of the components of the product. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The solution is scalable. You can do a worldwide rollout of the product. This is an Enterprise product, and so the scalability allows you to expand over multiple countries, over multiple locations, with their technology. 

    The company is best suited to enterprise level organizations - specifically medium and large ones. 

    How are customer service and technical support?

    They have really great support. If you have to call, for example, someone at Microsoft, you need to wait in a queue about 30 minutes, or here in Switzerland, some companies, have outsourced the support to other countries. Then you have to wait in a queue and wait for a person which is helping you. At BeyondTrust in all these 15 years, normally you have a wait of one or two minutes, and almost immediately you have a person in the chat, which helps you, and a competent person. They are very quick and very responsive. 

    How was the initial setup?

    This is an on-premise product. You cannot really compare with the other products from the cloud, which you just click and then work. There is a setup process, and you need an admin with a certification. It's not so easy, however, if you have the right guys in place, then it's no problem. 

    Normally, anyway, this is an Enterprise product, and in the company, you have a person which is administrating this product. BeyondTrust is an Enterprise solution, and therefore, you have to do some kind of rollout as well.

    What was our ROI?

    Typically, users will see an ROI within about a year or so. It gives you the best tool to your employees they can have in that area. And therefore the return of investment comes very fast.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The pricing depends on the model you choose. You can have it as a cloud version or you can have it as an on-premise version and therefore the prices vary. The initial costs are normally a little bit higher than with other products, however, after two or three years, it's a bargain. It's just that the initial cost is a little bit higher. That said, due to the functionality it gives to your team, the return of investment comes very fast.

    What other advice do I have?

    We are a reseller, not an end-user.

    While we do use different deployment models, many of our clients are government-related and therefore we deal a lot with on-premises deployments. 

    I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten. It's definitely on the upper level, well above what else is available.

    I would recommend that those considering using the solution do a certification course similar to when you install Windows server or something like that from Microsoft where you can become a Microsoft certified professional, and you can attend a class and then you can do an exam about the product. 

    I recommend that a company which uses the product has also a certified admin. It makes it lot easier. That way, they can really profit from all the functionality the product has. The product has many functions however, you need to give it to a person with enough know-how. Otherwise, the company will not use all the features the product offers. 

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: reseller
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: November 2024
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.