We recently inherited an environment where vendors were given direct Active Directory or Entra ID accounts with very little oversight, segmentation, or access control. We're building a temporary internal process to reduce the risk, but we'd prefer a proper vendor access management platform. BeyondTrust and SecureLink are familiar options, but our budget is limited and we want something lightweight that won't create a lot of operational overhead. What solutions or access patterns have worked well for securing third-party access?
5 Answers
A relatively simple approach is to create separate internal accounts for each vendor and place them in tightly scoped groups. Apply firewall rules so each group can reach only the systems it needs, then require MFA for the VPN and again for RDP or the target systems. We use a VPN with Okta and an RDP MFA agent, which avoids needing a jump server or additional licensing in our setup.
Same here, with Duo. We also automatically disable vendor accounts after 30 days without a login.
Azure Virtual Desktop is another practical option. Vendors connect to a controlled virtual desktop, and role-based access determines what they can reach from there. It centralizes the entry point and keeps vendor activity away from their unmanaged devices.
We’re considering that now. The lack of straightforward usage metering is a concern, but it may be the most practical short-term solution.
Look specifically at vendor privileged access management products. Many support ephemeral or just-in-time accounts, session recording, approvals, and automatic expiration. Even if the major platforms are outside your budget, comparing their feature sets can help you evaluate smaller vendors and avoid rebuilding those controls internally.
If you’re already invested in Azure, Azure Bastion combined with Privileged Identity Management can provide time-limited, auditable access without exposing management ports directly. For a simpler alternative, Windows 365 Cloud PCs may be worth evaluating if Intune is already in place and you want to avoid some of the management overhead associated with AVD.
A segmented jump host can work well if you want stronger control without deploying a full PAM platform. Put it in a dedicated VLAN and allow it to connect only to the specific machines each vendor is authorized to administer. Vendor accounts should be separate, tightly permissioned, monitored, and disabled when access is no longer needed.
We use the same general design, but Duo handles MFA instead of Okta.