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Term · 4. Roles, Policies & Access Rights

Privileged Account Discovery

IDM/IGA Domain

Definition

Automated scanning of systems to discover privileged accounts (admin, root, service accounts with elevated rights). Critical first step in PAM program — you can't protect what you don't know exists. Includes local admin accounts on endpoints/servers, cloud admin roles, application-specific superuser accounts, and forgotten service accounts.

Synonyms
  • Account Discovery
  • PAM Discovery
  • Privileged Account Inventory
Application
Regulatory: NIS2 Directive — EU 2022/2555 · NIST SP 800-63 (Digital Identity Guidelines)
Standards & regulations
  • NIS2
  • NIST