Introduction
Local Admin Password Solution (LAPS) and Privileged Access Management (PAM) Solution are two different approaches to managing privileged access and passwords. LAPS is a Microsoft product designed specifically for local administrator password management, while PAM offers a more comprehensive approach to privileged access management.
LAPS Overview
LAPS is a Microsoft-based solution that, on Windows devices, automatically controls and protects local administrator accounts. It is developed to facilitate the firms in better security and decrease the possibility of lateral movement in the case an intruder manages to take over a local administrator account. It can automate password rotation, storage, and retrieval which makes it a popular choice among organizations that are based on Microsoft platforms.
PAM Overview
PAM is more of a complete solution in granting privileged access to an organization’s IT assets. It helps organizations, secure. Preserve and control the privileged access to confidential data, apps, and systems. They offer sophisticated functions such as session management, access request workflows, and multi-factor authentication, which make them ideal for companies with complicated security needs.
Advantages of LAPS
Easy to implement: LAPS is a simple but handy solution that can be easily set up as well as managed, even for small IT teams.
Cost-effective: LAPS is more than likely less expensive than a PAM system which is more complex and sophisticated.
Integration: LAPS is based on Microsoft, so it can be used together with Microsoft Entra ID and Microsoft Server Active Directory, which is a nice feature for organizations that already have these products.
Automatic password rotation: LAPS produces and refreshes the passwords for the administrator accounts on the local administrator every time it works, thus lowering the general risks of security breaches that are linked to passwords.
Prevents lateral movements: To ensure that if an attacker, for instance, gains access to one of the administrator accounts and the credentials of the other devices could be changed, LAPS would prevent the lateral movement as the passwords are regularly changed and backed up.
Disadvantages of LAPS
Limited scope: LAPS has only to monitor the local administrator accounts and their management, excluding the granting of access to the nodes in the production system, whereas PAM can do that.
Not made for large organizations: LAPS has been developed for average-sized organizations (usually, medium-sized and smaller) and the probability that large and complex organizations will find the software insufficient is rather high.
Lack of advanced features: LAPS lack security advances as found in session management, access requests, workflows, and multi-factor authentication among others.
Limited scalability: if not available to be ready with all the devices or the number of users LAPS system may be less preferable than others in the case of a large organization.
Dependencies: LAPS is only compatible with Microsoft Entra ID or the Active Directory provided by Windows Server, and as such, another directory service may be an obstacle to some organizations.
Advantages of PAM
Advanced security features: Pam brings multi-factor authentication in addition to session monitoring and auditing for advanced security tools.
Scalable and flexible: PAM has been designed to deal with mobile devices in big numbers as well as employees for the security gratification of larger and more complex organizations.
Support: PAM helps with systems running on multiple platforms (including Windows, Linux, and cloud computing services).
Improved security and reduced risk: Because of the use of PAM features and their strict password control measures, PAM makes it almost impossible to gain access to the network.
Streamlined access request and approval processes: PAM requests are automated via approval workflow, thus raising efficacy and minimizing the possibility of wrong access.
Enhanced visibility: Gaining the ability to uphold immediate records for monitoring and auditing allows the organization to see all the audit logs which comes from privileged resource access.
Disadvantages of PAM
Complex implementation: The complexity of PAM is linked to the risks of its implementation and maintenance, which can lead to resource-intensive and dependency on professionals’ involvement.
Higher operational cost: PAM solutions are generally more expensive than LAPS or other password management solutions.
What’s new in Windows LAPS
General availability: Windows LAPS with Microsoft Entra ID and Microsoft Intune support is now generally available..
New Platforms: Windows LAPS is now available on windows 11 22H2, windows 11 21H2, Windows Server 2022, and Windows Server 2019.
Encryption and Password History: Windows LAPS offers password encryption and password history storage, enhancing security and compliance.
Legacy LAPS Emulation: Windows LAPS now provides a legacy Microsoft LAPS emulation mode to help migrate existing deployments.