StrongDM Zero Trust Privileged Access Management

StrongDM is a universal access management company built on an Identity Firewall architecture, now part of Delinea Inc., a San Francisco identity security vendor that completed the acquisition in March 2026. It addresses the gap between granting access and controlling what happens afterwards, as engineers, service accounts and AI agents work directly on databases, Kubernetes clusters, servers and cloud consoles.

The agentless platform brokers credentials so users never see them and connects through native terminals, IDEs and CLI tools. Access is granted just in time with approvals through Slack, Teams or ITSM and revoked automatically when the task ends. A Cedar-based policy engine re-evaluates identity, device, resource and risk context throughout each session, allowing or blocking individual privileged actions, while every query and command is recorded. It covers PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server, MongoDB, Kubernetes (EKS, GKE, AKS), AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Linux, Windows RDP and web apps, and applies the same controls to AI agents such as Claude Code, Codex CLI and Copilot.

• Just-in-time access: Grants time-bound access with approvals in Slack, Teams or ITSM and revokes it automatically.
• Runtime authorization: Re-evaluates policy during each session and allows or blocks individual privileged actions.
• Credential brokering: Injects credentials so users and agents never handle secrets directly.
• Session recording and audit: Logs every query, command and session for investigations and compliance.
• Broad infrastructure coverage: Supports major databases, Kubernetes, cloud consoles, SSH, RDP and web apps.
• Agentic AI control: Applies the same authorization and auditing to AI agents such as Claude Code and Copilot.

A Vietnamese fintech can give engineers just-in-time, recorded access to production PostgreSQL and Kubernetes without sharing passwords. A bank's IT team can require Slack approval before vendors run commands on core servers. A software company using AI coding agents can restrict which databases those agents may query.

The vendor states agentless deployment takes hours rather than months. Credential brokering removes shared database and server passwords from engineers' laptops and scripts. Just-in-time access with automatic revocation eliminates standing privileges, and action-level control stops risky commands mid-session. Unified audit trails support SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS 4.0, HIPAA and NIS2 evidence.

Multi-cloud, Kubernetes and AI coding agents multiply privileged access paths faster than legacy PAM can follow; a 2026 Cloud Security Alliance study cited by the vendor found 74% of organizations give AI agents more access than needed. Fintechs, banks and software companies in Vietnam and Southeast Asia running cloud-native systems need least-privilege controls that fit DevOps workflows.

StrongDM was acquired by Delinea Inc. (San Francisco, with Delinea Europe Ltd. in London); the deal was announced in January 2026 and completed on 5 March 2026, with terms undisclosed. StrongDM CEO Tim Prendergast joined the combined effort under Delinea CEO Art Gilliland. In February 2026 Delinea appointed Cynthia Lee as VP APAC. Customers shown include Chime, Better, Benevity, Betterment, SoFi and Axos Financial.