In plain English
PAM ensures that administrator and high-privilege accounts are not permanently active — reducing the damage an attacker can do if they compromise one. In Microsoft environments, this is implemented through Entra ID Privileged Identity Management (PIM), which requires admins to 'activate' their elevated role for a limited time window.
Full definition
Privileged accounts — Global Administrators, Domain Admins, Service Accounts — are the most valuable targets in any cyber attack. Permanently active privileged accounts dramatically expand an attacker's blast radius once credentials are compromised.
Just-in-time (JIT) access requires users to explicitly request elevated permissions, provide a justification, and obtain approval. Permissions are then granted for a defined window (e.g., 1–8 hours) before automatically expiring. All activations are logged for audit purposes.
The 3 requires unprivileged accounts for email and web browsing, separate accounts for privileged activities, and privileged access workstations for sensitive administrative tasks.