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Difficulty: HardIdentity and Access Management Operations

A security engineer must execute a break-glass procedure to access a critical database server during an unannounced service disruption. Place the operational steps of the Privileged Access Management (PAM) emergency account lifecycle in the correct sequential order from first to last.

  1. 1Submit an emergency checkout request referencing the active incident ticket ID in the PAM portal.
  2. 2Complete out-of-band multi-factor authentication (MFA) to approve credential release.
  3. 3Obtain the temporary credential from the secure vault and perform necessary emergency maintenance.
  4. 4Check in the emergency account in the PAM portal upon completing administrative operations.
  5. 5Execute automated credential rotation and terminate residual privileged sessions.

Answer

The correct operational order for the PAM break-glass account lifecycle is: Submit an emergency checkout request referencing the incident ticket ID -> Complete out-of-band MFA approval -> Obtain temporary credentials and perform emergency maintenance -> Check in the emergency account in the PAM portal -> Execute automated credential rotation and terminate residual sessions.
The correct sequence adheres to enterprise PAM operational controls: establishing audit tracking via ticket reference, verifying identity through out-of-band MFA, executing emergency work with checked-out credentials, formally checking in the account, and executing automated credential rotation with session invalidation to guarantee single-use policy enforcement.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Initiate the emergency checkout request with ticket authorization.
The PAM vault logs the access intent with auditing details attached.
Establishing auditability and ticketing context must precede credential disclosure.
2
Authenticate via secondary out-of-band MFA.
The identity of the requesting administrator is verified.
Strong authentication prevents unauthorized break-glass credential releases.
3
Retrieve credential and conduct emergency remediation.
System maintenance is performed using the break-glass account.
Administrative tasks are executed only after successful authentication and checkout.
4
Check in the emergency account within the PAM portal.
The administrative window closes in the PAM tracking system.
Explicit check-in signals to the PAM solution that the account lifecycle controls should be triggered.
5
Automate password rotation and residual session termination.
The break-glass credential is replaced with a new random secret and open sessions are killed.
Automatic rotation ensures credentials used in emergency checkouts cannot be reused later.

Key Concept

Privileged Access Management (PAM) Break-Glass Account Lifecycle
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Topics

Identity and Access Management Operations

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