Page 162 - Cyber Defense eMagazine September 2025

The Future of Privileged Access is Vault-Free

By Yaron Kassner, Co-Founder & CTO, Silverfort

The cybersecurity world was jolted by the recent announcement that Palo Alto Networks will acquire
CyberArk in a landmark deal valued at approximately $25 billion. Beyond the financial scale of the
transaction, this acquisition marks a shift in how the industry views identity security. The recent acquisition
validates what we’ve been emphasizing already: identity is both the first and last line of defense, and
it demands its own dedicated security layer. Just as we've seen in other domains like endpoint and cloud
security, protecting identities requires an end-to-end platform—one that offers unified visibility, intelligent
insights, and inline protection.

CyberArk, rooted in Privileged Access Management (PAM), has expanded its identity capabilities in
response to market needs. But this acquisition surfaces a more critical and timely question:

What is the future of PAM?

We believe we’re witnessing the beginning of a transformation. A future where securing privileged access
will no longer revolve around a vault. In fact, vault-based approaches will no longer be the primary
method of enforcing privileged access security.

Cyber Defense eMagazine – September 2025 Edition 162
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