The workforce doesn't live only inside office buildings anymore. Employees log in from home, contractors jump in during emergencies, and vendors need access from across the globe. However, many companies are still stuck with agent-based privileged access management (PAM) tools that demand local installs, OS-specific maintenance, and endless updates.
For remote teams and third-party partners, utilizing such tools often becomes so frustrating that they look for shortcuts like password sharing or disregarding security measures. So, how do you maintain strong security without making access management painful? The answer is agentless PAM.
What is agentless privileged access management?
Rather than installing software clients across hundreds or thousands of endpoints, IT teams can deploy agentless PAM solutions like Syteca in hours or days, not months. Agentless PAM ensures that only the right people get in, at the right time, with the right level of permission—all without complex setups. Remote workers, contractors, and third-party vendors are simply authenticated to a gateway and then launch an RDP or SSH session.
Benefits of agentless PAM
Agentless PAM solutions provide security without the delays, confusion, and technical overhead. Below are the practical advantages organizations get when deploying agentless PAM software.
Fast deployment
Rolling out a traditional agent-based PAM can feel like renovating every floor of a skyscraper while people are still working inside. It can take months. Organizations should coordinate software installations, configure policies, and manage compatibility issues across different operating systems.
An agentless approach significantly reduces this timeline. Without the need for endpoint installations, IT teams can grant secure privileged access to new users within hours. This becomes particularly valuable when onboarding temporary contractors, providing emergency vendor access during critical incidents, or scaling operations in new geographic markets.
Reduced IT workload
Agent-based solutions create ongoing operational overhead; IT teams must manage agent updates and handle support tickets when agents conflict with other software.
Agentless tools significantly reduce the maintenance burden. With no local software to manage, update, or troubleshoot, IT teams can focus on strategic initiatives rather than lengthy software deployment and maintenance. This operational efficiency translates directly to cost savings—reducing both labor costs and the expenses associated with operational disruptions and system conflicts.
Secure vendor access
Organizations often need to provide access to third parties without compromising security. Traditional PAM systems require complex configuration and agent installations to provide contractors with access.
Agentless PAM tools enable vendors to quickly and securely access your systems through controlled sessions that automatically terminate when the job is done. This approach eliminates the security risks associated with persistent vendor access while simplifying the onboarding and offboarding process.
Balanced security and compliance
Limited access to sensitive data is a major requirement of many standards and laws, such as SOX, PCI DSS, and HIPAA. Agentless solutions like Syteca PAM enable organizations to manage privileged sessions regardless of user location or target system type.
Syteca's architecture also eliminates the security risks associated with agent compromise. For organizations juggling remote work, multiple cloud platforms, and vendor access, a balance of compliance, security, and simplicity is invaluable.
A real-life scenario: emergency vendor access in critical infrastructure
Let's imagine a power utility company that needs to provide emergency access to external contractors during recovery operations. Traditional agent-based approaches would require installing and configuring PAM agents—a process that could take a long time when every minute counts.
With agentless Syteca PAM, the company can instantly provide contractors with secure browser-based access to necessary systems and network infrastructure. When emergency work is complete, access is immediately revoked without leaving any software installed on contractor devices.
Next-generation agentless solutions
Leading PAM solutions are pushing agentless capabilities even further with advanced features designed for modern IT environments. Syteca's release 7.21 introduces the Web Connection Manager, which provides browser-based RDP and SSH sessions without any local installations. It's compatible with Chrome, Safari, and Edge on most major platforms.
By implementing agentless Syteca PAM, you will gain access to a comprehensive suite of capabilities that address every aspect of privileged access management.
Automated account discovery and onboarding
With the account discovery feature, you can automatically scan your entire IT infrastructure to identify unmanaged privileged accounts and take them under control, thus reducing blind spots.
Credential management and vaulting
Syteca PAM involves a military-grade encrypted vault that securely stores passwords, SSH keys, and other secrets. The platform supports automated password rotation, while the password checkout system ensures only one person can use specific credentials at a time. Role-based access controls determine who can view, edit, or share secrets.
Syteca's latest release also includes enhancements designed to improve overall usability and security:
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Modern, sleek interface. Syteca's refreshed UI delivers a cleaner visual experience. A new interface makes day-to-day security tasks more intuitive for admins and seamless for end-users.
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Cross‑platform account discovery. Syteca's expanded account discovery capabilities now include Windows and Linux systems. Teams can automatically scan different IT environments to identify unmanaged privileged accounts and SSH keys.
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Full‑motion session recording. Syteca's 7.21 release introduces full‑motion session recording: instead of static images, sessions are recorded as smooth videos. Every click and cursor movement is captured, providing complete visibility with no gaps.
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Real-time sensitive data masking. Syteca is the first solution that automatically detects and obscures confidential information in both live sessions and recordings.
The bottom line
If provisioning of remote and vendor access is slowing you down or leaving security gaps, agentless PAM is a way out. Syteca scales easily, deploys quickly, and adapts seamlessly to changing business requirements without sacrificing the comprehensive controls that your security demands.
Ready to experience the power of agentless PAM? Explore Syteca's capabilities and request a demo at syteca.com.
