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reviewer1706796 - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Lead at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Its architecture is much more secure compared to competitors
Pros and Cons
  • "We've written over a hundred custom connectors ourselves that allow us to do all types of privileged session management for various applications. On top of that, the rest of the API-based central credential providers allow us to get away from credentials that may be hard-coded in the script or some application."
  • "Many of the infrastructure folks who use the product dislike it because it complicates their workflow. They get a little less control, and they have to go through a specific solution. It proactively logs in for them, which obfuscates some of the issues that they may be troubleshooting."

What is our primary use case?

CyberArk's Privileged Access Management solution covers a whole range of features, like privileged web access, private vault, privileged session manager rights for a session in isolation, privileged threat analytics for analytics, and private sessions. We also use CyberArk's Application Access Manager, which includes their credential providers, such as agents and run servers. Then there is a central credential provider, which is API-based credential retrieval, and DAP or Conjur. This is more of a DevOps model for credential provisioning. We also have the Central Policy Manager, which rotates the credentials associated with unprivileged or servers accounts. It's a huge environment. 

Those are all the different functions we use. We initially purchased CyberArk for privileged access manager and session isolation of privileged users. By privileged users, I mean main admins, global admins, and preps like Azure or Office 365. Our initial use case was to manage those users who could drastically impact the environment if their credentials were compromised.

After we purchased the product, we had a third party on it. They suggested we also leverage CyberArk as part of the platform for managing service accounts, i.e. go out and proactively rotate credentials that are running or ordering services. That's another kind of big use case that we started implementing a couple of years. It's long work. It is tough to do, there's a lot of cases where it just doesn't work right, but overall it's been pretty valuable.

How has it helped my organization?

From a security perspective, CyberArk PAM gives us a lot of control and visibility into what our privileged users are doing. In terms of securing our cloud-native apps, we're just getting into deploying things to Azure, AWS, etc., and DAP brings a lot of value to that because it is cloud-agnostic credential retrieval. Azure has their key vaults, and AWS has their version if you are a multi-cloud solution. CyberArk's Secrets Manager, or DAP, brings a lot of value because you only have to learn how to integrate your apps with one solution that can be deployed across multiple clouds. 

I will say that CyberArk is struggling with some of the cloud integrations. For instance, Azure has a native identity solution, and Microsoft keeps causing issues with their ability to identify the hosts calling back. Some cloud providers are trying to lock CyberArk and other tools out of their environment and force you to use their native one. With that said, I don't use the other functions. I don't use the containerization Kubernetes integration or anything like that. We're not at that point yet. One of my significant concerns about investing a lot of time in CyberArk Conjur or DAP solution is that Microsoft seems to be trying to push them out of that space, and if they do that, then all of that work is null and void.

What is most valuable?

In our initial use case, we found CyberArk's privileged session management functionality to be incredibly flexible. It's challenging to write these plug-ins, but if you have somebody with a development background, you can write all sorts of custom connections to support different functional applications. We've written over a hundred custom connectors ourselves that allow us to do all types of privileged session management for various applications. On top of that, the rest of the API-based central credential providers allow us to get away from credentials that may be hard-coded in the script or some application. 

What needs improvement?

CyberArk's web console isn't in a great state. Over the last three years, if not more, it has been transitioning from what they call the "classic UI" to its modern interface. However, there are a lot of features that you can only use in the classic interface. Hence, each version seems to put more makeup on the modern interface, but all of the complex functionality you need is still in the classic UI. 

I'm not sure they've figured out how to transition, and they're kind of in a weird state. So, while CyberArk has made strides, the web interface is painful, particularly as an administrator, because you have to bounce between these different user interfaces. It is an incredibly complex solution that requires at least a dedicated employee or more to maintain it, support it, and understand it thoroughly. If you don't have that, it's just not the right solution for you because it is very complicated. 

Many of the infrastructure folks who use the product dislike it because it complicates their workflow. They get a little less control, and they have to go through a specific solution. It proactively logs in for them, which obfuscates some of the issues that they may be troubleshooting. And I think some of the consumers aren't big fans of the product. Also, I feel that in the last year or so, CyberArk has been pushing very hard for customers to go to their cloud solution. It doesn't have the same flexibility as the on-premise version, which is problematic because that's where I see a lot of value in the solution.

Buyer's Guide
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about CyberArk Privileged Access Manager. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
825,609 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using CyberArk PAM for about four years now.

How are customer service and support?

CyberArk support isn't the worst, but it's certainly not the best. I'd give it a six out of 10. They were responsive. After you submit a ticket, you get the typical response. You gather all the logs and send them, and then they do some analysis. They typically send you back to get more specific logs, so it's a standard support experience. I would not say it's great, but it is not terrible either.

Overall, as a partner in our digital transformation, CyberArk has been great. The technology adds a lot of value, but they're also very much engaged and concerned. The customer success manager very much wants to make sure we're getting value out of the tool. I guess my only concern there is that they are pushing very heavily for customers to switch to their new cloud solutions that may or may not fit our needs or expectations. I am worried that they're going to push even harder. For example, CyberArk might start offering features only available in the cloud solution that would make our future somewhat tenuous depending on what's going on. So my only hangup is that they're pushing cloud solutions that I don't think are very mature yet.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The environment's architecture is very complex, depending on your use cases, and I'm talking about CyberArk as a whole. Their past solution — their AM solution — and all of the other solutions bundled together are straightforward, and it all needs to work together. Depending on your use case and the connected components you need to have or build, you must learn a lot. So, it's not as simple a thing to deploy — at least on-premise. It isn't straightforward. Our environment comprises 20 to 30 servers that we had to spin up and connect. Disaster recovery has to be thoroughly vetted, discussed, and documented because as you onboard and manage those privileged accounts, you need a way to get to them if something goes wrong.

It took about a month to get the product running and several months to onboard users. And when we start talking about Application Access Manager, that's ongoing, and I think that'll probably be ongoing for a very long time. We were targeting our specific use cases, so we started with interactive users. The whole idea was to restrict, manage, and monitor those interactive users. Our rollout proceeded from the most privileged users to the less privileged users. Then we started targeting service accounts and that kind of stuff. So it was a phased approach from highest risk to lowest risk to lower risk.

CyberArk PAM requires a lot of maintenance. Right now, we have about one and a half people, but I would say we need to add several more people to do a better job and add a lot of functionality. It requires a lot of maintenance and monitoring. They've relied on many different Microsoft features to secure the privileged session manager. It requires a lot of tuning, monitoring, and managing those solutions. They use AppLocker to restrict and isolate these running sessions, and AppLocker breaks all the time, so you have to go in and troubleshoot why it's broken and tweak it. That could mean adding a new rule or updating an application. It is a lot of maintenance, depending on your use case. But then again, we have gone very hard into privileged session management and developed over a hundred custom connectors. Another customer might deploy RDP and call it a day, drastically reducing maintenance.

What was our ROI?

If you ask me the ROI, I'm not sure I could give you an exact number. Security tools are pretty tricky when it comes to that. But if you're adopting a risk-based approach, this substantially reduces risk. It brought a lot of visibility and allowed us to monitor all of our privileged users, so it is valuable from the perspective of KPI, modern solutions, and risk reduction. If we were to score this on an internal risk review, our previous risk would rank four out of five, and we've lowered this to a low severity risk.

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

CyberArk had just changed switched their licensing model to perpetual licenses when we purchased, including the whole PAM Suite. Before we bought it, they were licensing each function individually, which got complicated and very expensive. When we decided to buy it, it was much more straightforward and still quite expensive, but it brings a lot of value and risk reduction to the organization. 

In the last year or so, it's my understanding that they have switched from a perpetual licensing model to pushing companies to a subscription-based model. I have not dealt with this yet, so I'm not sure my feedback on licensing would be too valuable because they've moved away from the license type we purchased.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

This was our first foray into the PAM space. We did a proof of concept evaluating three different solutions, so CyberArk was the clear winner. I don't want to speak ill of any other solutions, but I will say that CyberArk's architecture was much more secure. Other competing solutions may leverage an agent that is installed on your local machine and runs your privileged applications locally, leaving a lot to be desired from a security perspective. 

CyberArk uses remote desktop gateways similar to Microsoft's RDS functionality, and it abstracts that privileged application from your workstation. So even if you're compromised, a malicious actor on your laptop or workstation would not be able to get to that privileged application. This was very valuable to us. Other solutions did not have that functionality.

What other advice do I have?

As it stands today, I would rate CyberArk PAM nine out of 10. However, I'm concerned about the future of the platform. While I've had nothing but great experiences so far, I have concerns about how they've been pushing that cloud solution in the last year and a half. I feel like they're going to pressure us to move to the cloud even though they're not mature enough in the cloud. 

Rather than create a cloud-native version, they've migrated their on-premise solution to the cloud, but they don't allow cloud customers to access the backend, which I recommend all the time as an on-premise user. Instead, you have to submit a support ticket and have their support do things on your behalf, which delays your ability to work with the tool. Furthermore, they may not be willing to make the modifications you want because it would affect their ability to impact the solution consistently. CyberArk designed the on-premise version to be incredibly flexible, and I have never found a use case where I can't do the work I want to do. Their cloud model discards a lot of that flexibility, which is where I see a lot of value, so I have concerns about the future of the tool.

Also, I'd like to point out that service account management is incredibly hard, particularly in a company that's been around for a while. Any company looking to adopt service account management needs to know that it's not as easy as vendors make it sound. Many things don't work right out of the box, so the most important lesson we've learned is to calibrate the expectations of senior management when it comes to service account management because it is a lot harder than anybody thinks. You're likely to break things in the process of trying to manage these accounts. 

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
reviewer2620185 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Cyber Security Lead at a mining and metals company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Personalized assistance, session recording and monitoring capabilities make it the best option for us
Pros and Cons
  • "The session recording and monitoring capabilities are valuable. We have real-time session management ability to record, audit, and monitor any privileged user activities. That is a big deal."
  • "CyberArk's support is excellent, providing personalized assistance through a dedicated local account manager and sales engineer."
  • "CyberArk has brought a feature called Vendor Team Manager, but it does not provide full access. It requires the vendor team leader to be onboarded as a local account instead of using their email address. Improvements could be made to onboard the vendor team leaders using their email, allowing them to manage their own team. That would greatly reduce the overhead in managing vendor team members."
  • "There is room for improvement, particularly with Vendor PAM."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case for CyberArk Privileged Access Manager in our organization is to ensure we move away from named identity admin access, which lacks protection such as MFA and other features offered by cloud privileged identity management solutions. Our goal was to protect anything on-prem related to Active Directory privileged access, so we chose to go with CyberArk Privileged Access Manager.

How has it helped my organization?

I am the cybersecurity lead in my organization. Every single year when we do the audit, one of the things that consistently comes up is how there are hashes floating around the environment. Since switching over from named admin-privileged identities to CyberArk PAM identities, like PAM accounts, there have been almost no breadcrumbs left behind. There are no hashes and that sort of thing. We hardly see any hashes floating around the environment. We have not done the audit yet, which is due next month, but I have been keeping an eye on the hashes and it is looking promising.

What is most valuable?

The session recording and monitoring capabilities are valuable. We have real-time session management ability to record, audit, and monitor any privileged user activities. That is a big deal.

Automatic credential rotation and granular access control for target resources accessed by admins add to the value. 

Seamless integration with the SIEM, especially Microsoft Sentinel, is valuable.

Lastly, the platform's versatility allows for the use of different types of platforms beyond just RDP and SSH, including SQL and web applications.

What needs improvement?

There is room for improvement, particularly with Vendor PAM. We were previously using a competitor product that allowed vendors to manage their own teams. CyberArk has brought a feature called Vendor Team Manager, but it does not provide full access. It requires the vendor team leader to be onboarded as a local account instead of using their email address. Improvements could be made to onboard the vendor team leaders using their email, allowing them to manage their own team. That would greatly reduce the overhead in managing vendor team members. We have 50 to 100 vendors. Each vendor has at least 10 to 20 accounts., so we are talking about 500 to 1,000 accounts. It would be easier if we could just manage those 50 vendor team leaders rather than hundreds.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using CyberArk Privileged Access Manager for six months, having started on the first of July.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability has been impressive. We have not experienced downtime for any reason. We did encounter one bug, but it was resolved once a patch was applied. The system is very stable and seamless. It requires minimal intervention to maintain high functionality.

When we took over as system owners of CyberArk, I thought every single time there was an update, we would have to stay up the night to do the patches and make sure it worked, but it has been very smooth and seamless. There is no friction. Everything has been taken care of at the back end, and we have not had to do anything out of hours. It has been very good.

I would rate it a ten out of ten for stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

So far, scalability has been excellent. Initially, we deployed the architecture for 10 to 20 users, but we have onboarded 30 users while still on that mid-tier configuration. We have had no issues.

Being a mining company, we do have operations at various sites. That includes multiple sites in Australia as well as a couple of sites in Northern America. We do have multiple sites with critical infrastructure on every single site. 

At the moment, we have 50 user licenses, and so far, we have onboarded 30 users. We have 20 more users and some more coming on board in the new year.

I would rate it a ten out of ten for scalability.

How are customer service and support?

CyberArk's support is excellent, providing personalized assistance through a dedicated local account manager and sales engineer. Their responsiveness is impressive, even though our location is quite isolated. We receive prompt support, which often exceeds expectations.

The dedicated local account manager has been providing us with personalized assistance tailored to the unique challenges that we have as a mining organization. The sales engineer supported us with his expert technical guidance during the deployment as well. It has been amazing. Both of these guys ensured smooth implementation.

For any issues that are not important, we raise tickets for customer support, and they have been very responsive. They get us back promptly. That is something unheard of because we are a very isolated city in Australia. Ours is the most isolated city in the world. The nearest city to us is 2,400 kilometers away. For someone like us, the support has been amazing. Sometimes, with other vendors, we have to wait a couple of days to hear back from them, but CyberArk has been exceptional in coming back to us with immediate responses. Their support has been perfect. I would rate them a ten out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

Previously, we used BeyondTrust. We decided to switch to CyberArk due to its superior support, scalability, adaptability, and the local presence of account managers and sales engineers, which facilitated a smooth and effective experience. 

While other products in the market may offer certain features at a competitive price, they often compromise on support, scalability, and adaptability. The main thing for us was the support. CyberArk combines top-notch technical capabilities with the local human touch of the local account managers and sales engineers. That was a big thing for us because that ensured a smooth and effective experience throughout the journey, which other products lacked. 

We are in the West of Australia, and all the competitors are in the East. The only way to communicate is over the phone, and we would only see them once or twice a year. Having local account managers and a sales community was a game changer. Also, considering the reputation and the gold standard for Privileged Access Manager, others cannot compete with CyberArk.

How was the initial setup?

It is a fully SaaS model, but because of the way CyberArk is architected, we do have our jump servers, PSM connector servers, and Secure Infrastructure Access servers in Azure, but it is not self-hosted. It is a cloud solution.

The jump start that was offered as a part of the product licensing was a game changer. When it comes to CyberArk, the complexity is quite high. That comes with security. Security and usability do not go hand in hand, but we have had help throughout our journey. The initial setup was detailed and supported actively by CyberArk's jump-start engineer. Every question was addressed, and the deployment was well-structured.

To realize its benefits, we had to wait until the users were happy using the PAM accounts. The individual privileged identities were still being used, so it took almost three months. That was the time it took for us to onboard the PAM accounts, hand over those accounts to the users, and confirm that it was working as expected.

In terms of maintenance, I thought there was going to be a lot of maintenance because we are the system owners, but so far, it has not skipped a beat. All the updates were very smooth. We did not have to do any work installing the patches, apart from underlying Windows patches, which is the sysadmin's job. If sysadmins are able to patch them, the product is resilient enough to come back up and do its function. Any updates related to the product itself are installed in the background, and it is very transparent for the user. It has been very seamless.

What about the implementation team?

CyberArk's jump-start engineer played a crucial role in our successful deployment. He helped us all the way. Even now, about six months into the journey, he is helping us out with a few bits and pieces. Having that jump-start there was a game changer.

What was our ROI?

During our quantitative analysis, we estimated potential savings of one to ten million dollars a year by using a PAM solution. A cyber breach relating to admin-privileged access could lead to a financial loss of ten million dollars. If a standard user account is breached or compromised using their credentials, they cannot escalate to our higher privilege ones or cannot move laterally within the network. That was a game-changer.

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

CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is perceived to be somewhat overpriced compared to similar market products. It is a little bit overvalued. It could come down a little bit for my liking. However, the industry-leading reputation and the quality of service justify the high price point to some extent.

What other advice do I have?

I would highly recommend CyberArk Privileged Access Manager. It is a leader in the privileged access management space, offering robust tools to secure credentials across IT and OT environments. We are very heavy on OT environments. It has been nothing but the best.

I would rate CyberArk Privileged Access Manager a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public 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.
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Buyer's Guide
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager
January 2025
Learn what your peers think about CyberArk Privileged Access Manager. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
825,609 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Chris V - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Information Security Engineer at Optum
Real User
Great password management, API password retrieval functionality and Rest API retrieval
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable aspects of the solution include password management and Rest API retrieval of vaulted credentials."
  • "The solution needs better features for end users to manage their own whitelisting for 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. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Alex Lozikoff - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Development Manager at Softprom by ERC
Real User
Top 10Leaderboard
Ensures the security of privileged accounts and very stable solution
Pros and Cons
  • "It is an extremely scalable solution."
  • "There is room for improvement in the pricing model."

What is our primary use case?

The main use case is the protection of privileged accounts. We also use it for multi-factor authentication and single sign-on.

How has it helped my organization?

Now we feel assured that all our privileged accounts are well protected. Our admins don't know passwords and don't enter them manually. This eliminates the risk of interception and account hijacking.

What is most valuable?

First of all, CyberArk offers great flexibility. Throughout our years of experience, we haven't found any system that we couldn't connect with CyberArk. We have many web management consoles, and it's no problem to connect to them using custom connectors.

Moreover, it's a highly customizable solution. If you know how to do it, you can customize it as you want.

What needs improvement?

There is room for improvement in the pricing model. From a technical point of view, there are no issues. Support could be faster, though. We have mentioned that better support from CyberArk would be beneficial.

So, support could be faster, and pricing can be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using it for our needs and sharing it for over ten years. Currently, we use version 12.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a very stable solution. I would rate the stability a ten out of ten. If you can read the manual and avoid making mistakes, it's very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is an extremely scalable solution. I would rate the scalability a ten out of ten. In our organization, there are ten CyberArk users; they all are system administrators. 

How are customer service and support?

The customer service and support could be better. The response time could be better. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

I would rate my experience with the initial setup a four out of ten, one being difficult and ten being easy. It's a modular system. To run CyberArk, you need to deploy several different services, set them up, and configure the interactions. It's not a solution in one box.

The initial setup is not very complex, but I would say it's not very simple, either.

What about the implementation team?

We have deployed CyberArk in both environments. We have several working calls in the cloud and some parts on-premises. The initial deployment takes about two days. 

What was our ROI?

Our main technical task was to reduce security risks, which we accomplished with CyberArk.

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

I would rate CyberArk's pricing a nine out of ten, with one being cheap and ten being expensive. It's one of the most expensive solutions in the market, but it's worth it.

What other advice do I have?

I would suggest finding a qualified partner. Don't try to install and configure it on your own. Instead, seek a certified CyberArk partner. It will save a lot of time and stress.

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. It's very good, but there are still areas for improvement, like any other product. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Omar_Jaimes - PeerSpot reviewer
Cybersecurity Architecture Manager at Data Warden
Real User
An excellent product with immediate ROI and good password security
Pros and Cons
  • "The password rotation and cyber gateway have been quite useful."
  • "The license is expensive."

What is our primary use case?

The most common use case is when you need to hide the management for the servers, switches, routers, et cetera. You can use privileged access for remote use cases.

How has it helped my organization?

In my company, we have a lot of servers, and the problem is when the users want to access these platforms. You can access all the architecture and knowledge with this product. It provides more access and visibility.

What is most valuable?

The password rotation and cyber gateway have been quite useful. It's a solution that allows you to search for passwords for your servers and accounts. This is the most feature power.

The solution is quite stable.

It is scalable on the cloud. 

What needs improvement?

The implementation is hard. For example, the on-prem implementation specifically is really hard to deploy. 

The solution does not scale well on-premises. 

This is an expensive product.

It's hard to get help from support if you are not certified. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for five years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is really stable. You just need to deploy a higher viability solution. However, you need to do a lot of budgeting to deploy that higher viability solution. You need at least 12 servers. It's really, really difficult to have a budget for that.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is easy to scale on the cloud. It is difficult to expand it on-premises. 

We have 30 people using the solution in my company.

At this point, we do not have plans to increase usage. 

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is really excellent. However, if you don't have a certification, it is impossible for you to receive technical support.

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

We previously used BeyondTrust and Centrify, among other solutions.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is pretty difficult and it takes a while to put into place. 

You need at least six servers to deploy it and it's really difficult to have a budget for that - plus, the implementation itself is really hard. You likely have to dedicate one week to deploy the solution and another week or two to onboard all the accounts.

Basically, it's pretty complex to implement. 

What about the implementation team?

We've used a consultant to assist us with the implementation. 

What was our ROI?

The ROI is really quick. If you have a compromised account, it can compromise your infrastructure, and the loss of the business is really high. With this product and the protection it offers, you can witness ROI immediately.

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

You need a large number of servers, and therefore it gets expensive to deploy the product.

The license is expensive. It costs us around $200 per user. 

What other advice do I have?

We are using a privileged cloud and an on-prem cloud, an on-prem APD. We have a hybrid setup.

I'd advise potential new users to have very good scripting at the outset. If you don't, you'll have difficulties in the long run. 

While the solution is expensive, it's excellent. I would rate it ten out of ten. You definitely get what you pay for. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1759485 - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Architect at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
With Privileged Session Manager, you can control the password management in a centralized way
Pros and Cons
  • "The automatic change of the password and Privileged Session Manager (PSM) are the most valuable features. With Privileged Session Manager, you can control the password management in a centralized way. You can activate these features in a session; the session isolation and recording. You apply the full intermediation principle. So, you must pass through CyberArk PAM to get access to the target system. You don't need to know the password, and everything that you do is registered and auditable. In this case, no one gets to touch the password directly. Also, you can implement detection and response behavior in case of a breach."
  • "Some aspects of the administration need improvement, though they have recently made improvements to the API. However, the management with the interface and configuration are not so user-friendly. It has not changed much during all the years that CyberArk has been on the market. The management part, like platform management as well as PSM connectors definition and management, could be improved, even if it has already been done with the API."

What is our primary use case?

We have clients that ask us to implement CyberArk PAM. There are two kinds:

  1. Greenfield installation and setup. 
  2. They already have CyberArk and want to extend their usage to protect different types of accounts and passwords.

CyberArk PAM protects privileged accounts and passwords. Privileged account means that those accounts have particular authorization that can span all the features of the system. For example, usually on network devices, they come out out-of-the-box with administrator accounts. Windows has an administrator account built-in so you need to protect that. Also, Active Directory has some accounts, like domain administrators, who can do whatever on the platform. These accounts are used for administration.

CyberArk stores and rotates the password/credential. They can rotate SSH keys as well. This protects the attack surface. By way of CyberArk, you can allow sessions, isolation, and recording. The main aim is to protect privileged accounts and their credentials.

I started with version 9.7, and now I am working with version 10.10, but the latest version is 12.

What is most valuable?

The automatic change of the password and Privileged Session Manager (PSM) are the most valuable features. With Privileged Session Manager, you can control the password management in a centralized way. You can activate these features in a session; the session isolation and recording. You apply the full intermediation principle. So, you must pass through CyberArk PAM to get access to the target system. You don't need to know the password, and everything that you do is registered and auditable. In this case, no one gets to touch the password directly. Also, you can implement detection and response behavior in case of a breach.

With CyberArk, you have a centralized store. With Privileged Session Manager, you can just look by the browser, looking through the name of the account, the name of the system, and the host name. In this case, you get the password and can then get through. Therefore, it is easier to get access to the system because it is easier to search the system for what you want using the user interface/browser of CyberArk. You also have an auditable action because the password is unknown to the administrator.

What needs improvement?

Some aspects of the administration need improvement, though they have recently made improvements to the API. However, the management with the interface and configuration are not so user-friendly. It has not changed much during all the years that CyberArk has been on the market. The management part, like platform management as well as PSM connectors definition and management, could be improved, even if it has already been done with the API.

Onboarding is always a difficult path for every PAM solution. It is not immediate.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using it for six years, usually in delivery projects.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is very good. There are no problems with it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It has good scalability. Though, because the architecture is modular, you must plan a bit. In terms of performance, it is very scalable, but you need to pay attention to the architecture because it is not like having Kubernetes that moves laterally. While you can deploy it in a second, you need to be careful. 

How are customer service and support?

They have a good response time. 

Sometimes, on the development side, for some components, it does not respond for PSM connectors and CPM plugins. They don't tend to take responsibility for those. While clients tend to develop some PSM connector and CPM plugin, I would like a more flexible response on these types of issues being raised. Because while I am developing those components, I am developing on their product.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

We had clients who had quite a lot of SAP systems, something like 900. At first, their change management practice, i.e., the changing of the administrators' passwords was not so frequent, e.g., once a year instead of once a month or every two months. Their password management was usually done by storing those passwords on an Excel. Therefore, if they needed to connect to a system, they had to access the Excel file to find the machine and accounts to then receive the passwords for access to the system. This was unwieldy since they needed to look through an Excel spreadsheet with more than 900 entries. This is also not very secure since you have an Excel file with a clear password on your workstation. 

How was the initial setup?

It was a bit complex because the architecture is complex. At the same time, this is also an advantage in relation to other competitors in the market because CyberArk's architecture is inherently secure. So, while it is a bit more complex to set up initially, it is necessary for reaching the security that other solutions do not give you.

The installation can easily be done. It is the architecture part that is complex, possibly because you need to size the machines. 

It depends greatly on the project. Usually, the best approach is a modular one. You start with a set of users, then move on to expanding the solution with size in mind. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

CyberArk's architecture is peculiar. It is the most secure on the market because they have a hard-end computer out of the domain that stores passwords with multiple cryptography. Then, there are the default components that dialogue with Password Vaults. Only CyberArk has this. The other solutions usually give you an encrypted database on an appliance, and this is a very different scenario. Therefore, CyberArk has an inherently secure architecture.

Broadcom PAM is not as stable versus CyberArk. 

What other advice do I have?

Plan wisely and you will have a very good product. The approach should be modular and step by step. Start with the UNIX administrators, network device administrator, Windows administrator, and Active Directory administrator, then move onto more complex scenarios, like web server administrators, sub-administrators, etc. 

I would rate CyberArk PAM as nine out of 10. It could be more manageable.

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: Partner
PeerSpot user
Security Engineer at ITAM
Real User
Top 10
Helps to store password and do authentication
Pros and Cons
  • "We have the identity provider for all the authentication processes. However, sometimes, we need access to different applications for customers or clients that are not integrated into the identity provider. For these, we need to store a password to gain access. For example, we use the CyberArk Password Vault for third-party services. This vault needs to be shared with many people in our company."
  • "The main challenge was integrating with in-house IT and business applications, which are not standard. We needed to create special updates for that kind of integration."

What is our primary use case?

We have the identity provider for all the authentication processes. However, sometimes, we need access to different applications for customers or clients that are not integrated into the identity provider. For these, we need to store a password to gain access. For example, we use the CyberArk Password Vault for third-party services. This vault needs to be shared with many people in our company. 

This allows us to store passwords and create privileged access for some users without them needing to know the password. The system inputs the password into the endpoint URLs they use for authentication, but the users never see the password. This is crucial because people may leave the company, posing a high risk. If we had integrated it into the identity provider, we would have policies for active directory users but not for users outside the company.

For example, our development teams need to connect to databases, systems, and cloud services during development. The developers don’t get access to third-party services. We use the solution to manage this access. The application being developed and deployed integrates with CyberArk Password Vault services.

What needs improvement?

The main challenge was integrating with in-house IT and business applications, which are not standard. We needed to create special updates for that kind of integration.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with the product for three to four years. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is 99 percent scalable. 

How are customer service and support?

Sometimes, support is not easy because you need to share the company's architecture. Maybe they are on time, but they don't understand the specifics we're talking about. Communication can be an issue, especially when speaking with people whose first language isn't English. There can be difficulties with understanding and making sense of conversations. So, outsourcing support can sometimes be challenging.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault's deployment is complex. 

What other advice do I have?

I have been working with the new services and don't see any additional issues at this hour. The key requirement is to have people who understand not only the tool but also the concepts and how to view it from an architectural perspective. 

One problem is that people may not know how to work with the tool, and another is that they don't understand the concepts. So, I think focusing on proof of concepts is good. For example, what I do at first is request information for identity providers and key management services.

I rate the overall solution a nine out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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PeerSpot user
Meo Ist - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Product Manager and Technology Consultant at Barikat
Reseller
Top 10Leaderboard
Helps to keep password safe and is good for cybersecurity
Pros and Cons
  • "The tool has safe vaults. We keep our passwords in the Vault. The tool’s recording feature is also valuable for us."
  • "The tool needs to improve its usage and interface. They need to have a modern and useful interface. I want the product to improve its integration capabilities as well since some of the integration features do not work always."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for cybersecurity and regulation.

What is most valuable?

The tool has safe vaults. We keep our passwords in the Vault. The tool’s recording feature is also valuable for us.

What needs improvement?

The tool needs to improve its usage and interface. They need to have a modern and useful interface. I want the product to improve its integration capabilities as well since some of the integration features do not work always.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is a stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product is scalable. You can manage 100,000 scripts or 1000 secrets with the solution.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate the tool’s support an eight out of ten. The tech support is good and not complex. You can escalate the problems easily.

How was the initial setup?

If you do not have prior experience, then the tool’s setup is complex. It has a complex installation process. You need to do pre-configuration correctly. The deployment takes around two to three days to complete. One experienced person is enough for the deployment.

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

The product’s pricing is feasible for enterprise customers. The pricing is expensive for smaller businesses. You need to pay additional costs for service implementation and local support.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate the product a ten out of ten. We recommend this product for enterprise customers. The tool’s pricing and operation are a problem for small customers. They need to opt for Software as a Service. Companies need to install this product since they have a lot of accounts and passwords.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free CyberArk Privileged Access Manager Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: January 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free CyberArk Privileged Access Manager Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.