CyberArk PAM-DEF - CyberArk Defender - PAM

 Users who have the ‘Access Safe without confirmation’ safe permission on a safe where accounts are configured for Dual control, do not need to request approval to use the account. The ‘Access Safe without confirmation’ safe permission is a special permission that allows a user to bypass the Dual control mechanism and access the accounts in the safe without requiring confirmation from other authorized users. This permission can be useful for emergency situations or trusted users who need immediate access to the accounts. However, this permission also increases the risk of unauthorized or malicious access, so it should be granted with caution and monitored closely1.

References:

1: Access without confirmation

The command PAReplicate.exe with the /FullBackup option is used to generate a full backup of the CyberArk Vault. This command requires the Vault configuration file (typically Vault.ini) and a credential file (specified with /LogonFromFile) that contains the user’s encrypted logon credentials. The /FullBackup option indicates that a full backup of the Vault is to be performed, as opposed to an incremental backup1.

References:

CyberArk Docs: Install the Vault Backup Utility2

CyberArk Knowledge Article: PAReplicate Configuration and Usage

 The Accounts Feed is a feature of the CyberArk Privileged Access Security Solution that enables the discovery and provisioning of privileged accounts in the environment. The Accounts Feed contains the accounts that were discovered by CyberArk that have not yet been onboarded to the Vault. These accounts are displayed in the Pending Accounts page in the PVWA, where the user can view, analyze, and onboard them according to various criteria. The Accounts Feed helps the user to identify and manage the unmanaged privileged accounts that pose a security risk1.

The other options are not correct, because:

A. Accounts that were discovered by CyberArk in the last 30 days. This is not correct, because the Accounts Feed does not contain all the accounts that were discovered by CyberArk in the last 30 days, but only the ones that have not yet been onboarded. The accounts that were already onboarded to the Vault are not part of the Accounts Feed, but are displayed in the Accounts page in the PVWA1.

C. All accounts added to the vault in the last 30 days. This is not correct, because the Accounts Feed does not contain the accounts that were added to the Vault, but the ones that are waiting to be onboarded. The accounts that were added to the Vault are not part of the Accounts Feed, but are displayed in the Accounts page in the PVWA1.

D. All users added to CyberArk in the last 30 days. This is not correct, because the Accounts Feed does not contain the users that were added to CyberArk, but the accounts that are waiting to be onboarded. The users that were added to CyberArk are not part of the Accounts Feed, but are displayed in the Users page in the PVWA1.

References:

1: Accounts Feed

 The Privileged Accounts Inventory Report provides information about all the privileged accounts in the system, based on different filters, such as safe, platform, policy, and owner. To run this report through the Reports page in PVWA on a specific safe, the user needs to have the following permissions on that safe:

List Accounts: This permission allows the user to view the accounts in the safe and their properties, such as name, address, platform, and policy.

View Safe Members: This permission allows the user to view the members of the safe and their authorizations, such as owners, users, and groups.

These permissions are required to show complete account inventory information for the specific safe. Other permissions, such as Manage Safe Owners, Access Safe without confirmation, Manage Safe, and View Audit, are not relevant for this report. References: Reports and Audits - CyberArk, Safe Member Authorizations

CyberArk does not recommend implementing object level access control on all Safes. According to the CyberArk documentation1, enabling object level access control impacts Vault performance. Therefore, it should be used only when necessary and with caution. Object level access control is useful when you need to give granular permissions to specific passwords or files in a Safe, regardless of the Safe level member authorizations. For example, you can use it to grant access to an external vendor or technician for a specific password only, without exposing any other passwords or files in the Safe. However, if you do not need this level of granularity, you can use the regular Safe member authorizations to control user access to the Safe and its contents.

To use PSM connections within the PVWA, a user or group needs to have permissions that allow them to list and use accounts, as well as retrieve account details. These permissions ensure that the user can view the accounts within a safe, initiate sessions using those accounts, and retrieve the necessary credentials for authentication during the session initiation process1.

References:

CyberArk’s official documentation on Safe Settings and permissions required for each safe in CyberArk’s Enterprise Password Vault (EPV) components provides detailed information on the default safe configuration and permissions1.

For more information on best practices for safe and safe member design, including the minimum permissions required for PSM connections, refer to CyberArk’s best practices articles and study guides

According to the CyberArk documentation1, once Object Level Access Control is enabled for a Safe, it cannot be disabled. This feature allows granular control over user access to passwords and files in the Safe, regardless of their Safe level member authorizations2. To enable Object Level Access Control, users need to have the Manage Safe authorization in the Vault1.

 The Vault Admins group is a predefined group that is automatically created during the installation or upgrade of the Vault. This group has all possible permissions in the Vault, and can create and manage other users, groups, platforms, policies, safes, and accounts. However, this group is not automatically added to every safe in the Vault, but only to some system safes that are used for administrative purposes. Therefore, being a member of the Vault Admins group does not guarantee that you can grant any permission on any safe, unless you are also a member or an owner of that safe. To grant permissions on a safe, you need to have the Authorize safe members authorization on that safe, which allows you to add or remove users or groups as safe members, and assign or revoke their authorizations. Alternatively, you can use the Administrator user, which is a predefined user that is a member of the Vault Admins group, and has all possible permissions on any safe in the Vault. References:

Predefined users and groups

Safe member authorizations

To disable session monitoring and recording for a large number of accounts due to storage constraints, you would navigate to the Administration section of the CyberArk Privileged Access Security (PAS) solution, specifically to the Configuration Options. From there, you would select the Privilege Session Management (PSM) options and disable the Session Monitoring and Recording policies. This action would apply the changes to the specified accounts, thus disabling the session monitoring and recording features for them1. References: The answer is based on general knowledge of CyberArk PAS and best practices for managing session policies within the system. For specific steps and detailed procedures, please refer to the official CyberArk Defender PAM course materials and documentation

Verify Server Address: Ensure that the address field is populated with the correct IP or FQDN for each server (Option A).

Check PSM Settings: Confirm that the correct PSM connection component is specified within the account platform settings (Option B).

Automatic Management: Check if the “Disable automatic management for this account” setting is not enabled (Option E).

These steps should help in troubleshooting the connection issue in the CyberArk Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution.