Blackfort Privileged Access Bridge

What the Privileged Access Bridge is

The Blackfort Privileged Access Bridge is a software platform for privileged access management (PAM). It sits as a hardened gateway between users and critical target systems – servers, databases, network devices, cloud consoles and industrial controllers. Every privileged access runs exclusively through the bridge, is approved in a structured way, recorded in full and can be terminated immediately at any time.

The product delivers the controls that ISO 27001, NIS2, DORA, BSI IT-Grundschutz and IEC 62443 require for privileged access – not as after-the-fact documentation, but structurally anchored in the access process. Auditors receive data from the system, not from policy documents.

The problem: uncontrolled privileged access

Privileged access is the most common root cause of serious security incidents. In typical enterprise environments you find administrators with permanent, barely monitored Domain Admin rights, service providers with active VPN accounts left over from projects that ended long ago, service accounts with passwords that have not been rotated for years, and machine builders with direct connections into production networks.

A single compromised admin or supplier account is enough in such environments to bypass the entire perimeter. Ransomware attacks of the last few years – from Colonial Pipeline to numerous German mid-sized companies – have all taken exactly this route. Not because internal systems were poorly secured, but because uncontrolled privileged access was permanently open.

Regulatory requirements for PAM

Privileged access management is an explicit obligation – not a recommendation – in virtually every relevant security framework. The Privileged Access Bridge addresses these requirements structurally:

What the Privileged Access Bridge delivers

The PAB is more than a jump host with a session-recording add-on. It is a complete PAM platform with eight core capabilities that regulated environments require:

Architectural principle: zero trust for privileged access

The PAB consistently follows the zero-trust principle: no implicit trust, minimal entitlements, full logging. In practice this means four structural properties that classical jump-host or VPN solutions do not deliver:

Use cases

Privileged Access Bridge in comparison

In many organisations VPN or classical jump hosts are the existing baseline. Both have their place – but structurally they do not deliver the controls regulators expect:

The PAB does not replace a VPN in every case – often the clean combination of VPN as the network layer plus the PAB as the control plane is the pragmatic path. In scenarios with a high density of external providers or strict evidence obligations, the PAB fully replaces classical jump-host solutions.

Integration with your existing infrastructure

The PAB is designed as a control plane – it complements your existing identity, SIEM and ITSM systems, it does not replace them. Standard integrations are in place, and a REST API allows custom workflows on top:

Deployment options

The PAB is operated the way it fits your security and operational strategy – not the other way around. Privileged credentials never leave your security zone in any of the models.

How a typical introduction runs

A PAB introduction is a structured process, not an experimental one. In typical projects – from mid-sized machine builders to KRITIS operators – we work in four phases:

1. 01

   Inventory & risk matrix

   Which privileged accesses exist today? Through which paths? Who has which entitlements? The outcome is a risk matrix that exposes the largest uncontrolled access points – often the basis for management decisions.

2. 02

   Architecture & pilot

   Selection of the deployment option, HA architecture design, pilot rollout for a delimited area (one plant, one tenant, one admin group). Validation of the approval workflows with real stakeholders.

3. 03

   Rollout & migration

   Step-by-step replacement of existing access paths: permanent VPN accounts are closed, service providers are migrated to the PAB, emergency access is documented and hardened. Accompanied by our specialists – without production downtime.

4. 04

   Operations & audit readiness

   Quarterly compliance reports, regular hardening reviews, preparation for ISO 27001, NIS2 or IEC 62443 audits. Optionally as a managed service through our team.

Why Blackfort for privileged access?

Blackfort Technology develops and operates security software for regulated environments – with its own product team in Germany, without dependency on third-party backends, and with the conviction that security products must not get in the way of day-to-day operations. The Privileged Access Bridge grew out of real requirements from our customers in industry, financial services and KRITIS – not from a marketing whitepaper.

We understand the reality that a security tool that slows down the admin on a weekend will eventually be bypassed. The PAB is therefore optimised for usability: one click to request access, single sign-on where possible, full keyboard workflows. Security is created through structure, not through friction.

What sets us apart from classical PAM vendors: we ship hardware-plus-software bundles for OT environments, operate the platform as a managed service on request and integrate it seamlessly with our other products – such as the Independent Log Vault for tamper-evident long-term archiving of audit data, or the Privileged Activity Review for automated anomaly detection in recorded sessions.