Privileged Access Architecture (PAWs & Tiering)
Your most powerful accounts are your biggest liability — if they're not properly isolated. Enforce strict boundaries around privileged access to stop attackers from turning one compromised credential into a full domain takeover.
What Is Privileged Access Architecture?
Your Active Directory (AD) environment is the backbone of your entire IT infrastructure — controlling every user, device, and security group across your organization. That makes it the most valuable target in your network. If an attacker compromises your identity infrastructure, they effectively hold the keys to the kingdom: total control over every system and resource you own.
Privileged Access Architecture is the structural defense that protects those keys. It combines two core mechanisms:
The Tiered Access Model: A three-tier hierarchy that enforces strict boundaries between administrative tiers, preventing high-privilege credentials from ever touching lower-trust systems.
Privileged Access Workstations (PAWs): Hardened, dedicated devices used exclusively for sensitive administrative tasks — isolated from email, web browsing, and other high-risk activities.
Together, these controls make privilege escalation and lateral movement substantially more difficult for attackers.
Eliminated Credential Exposure
Privileged accounts are used exclusively on dedicated, hardened workstations — never on general-purpose devices where malware and phishing attacks can intercept them.
Contained Blast Radius
If a standard user account is compromised, tiering ensures attackers can't leverage it to reach domain controllers, critical servers, or other high-value assets.
Enforced Tier Separation
Clear boundaries between Tier 0, Tier 1, and Tier 2 assets prevent privileged credentials from crossing into lower-trust environments where attackers operate.
Zero Trust Alignment
PAWs and tiering enforce the least-privilege and explicit verification principles that underpin a Zero Trust architecture, making them foundational to any mature security program.
Why Does Privileged Access Architecture Matter?
Privilege escalation is one of the most dangerous phases of a modern cyberattack. Attackers rarely start with administrative access — they gain a foothold through a standard user account and then work their way up. Here's how it happens:
Credential Theft
Tools like Mimikatz allow attackers to harvest password hashes directly from memory, letting them impersonate high-level administrators without ever knowing a plaintext password.
Lateral Movement
Once inside, attackers move silently across your network, identifying and targeting high-value assets such as domain controllers.
Hidden Attack Paths
Tools like BloodHound expose unintended relationships within Active Directory, helping adversaries map complex paths to your most sensitive credentials.
Technical Debt
Legacy configurations frequently allow credentials to cross security boundaries — making it trivially easy for an attacker to pivot from a compromised laptop to your core identity servers.
Don't wait for an incident to force action.
Get a Free Security AssessmentSecurity & Operational Challenges We Address
Ravenswood's PAWs and tiering services address the structural weaknesses that allow attackers to escalate privileges and move freely through your most sensitive identity infrastructure.
Credentials Crossing Tiers
When privileged credentials are used across multiple trust levels, a single compromised device can expose your entire environment.
Our Solution: We enforce tiered isolation via Group Policy Objects to ensure Tier 0 credentials never appear on lower-trust devices.
Admin Tasks On Unmanaged Devices
Performing sensitive administrative operations on general-purpose workstations exposes privileged accounts to malware, phishing, and credential harvesting.
Our Solution: We deploy hardened PAWs that restrict sensitive operations to controlled, dedicated devices.
Undetected Lateral Movement
Flat or loosely segmented environments give attackers the freedom to move quietly from a compromised endpoint to your most critical assets.
Our Solution: We implement structural segmentation that removes the pathways attackers rely on to escalate privileges undetected.
Legacy AD Misconfigurations
Outdated configurations and inherited technical debt create trust boundary failures that modern attackers actively exploit.
Our Solution: We apply Zero Trust-aligned remediation to close the gaps that traditional security models leave open.
Assessment-led Methodology
Ravenswood designs and implements Privileged Access Architectures grounded in Zero Trust principles. We replace outdated, perimeter-based security models with structural defenses tailored to your environment. Every engagement includes detailed design documentation and a prioritized implementation plan — giving your team a clear, actionable path to a more secure identity foundation.
The Tiered Access Model
We organize your infrastructure into three distinct tiers with hard boundaries between each:
Tier 0 (Highest Assurance)
Reserved exclusively for assets that directly control your identity and security infrastructure — Active Directory, PKI, and Entra ID Connect.
Tier 1
Servers, applications, and cloud services that house critical business data.
Tier 2
Standard user devices, workstations, and help desk support functions.
Privileged Access Workstations (PAWs)
Standard workstations used for email and web browsing are the most common entry points for malware and phishing. PAWs eliminate that risk for your most sensitive administrative work:
Credential Isolation
Administrators perform privileged tasks only on hardened, dedicated devices — never on general-purpose machines.
Restricted Access
PAWs are blocked from Internet access and configured to run only a tightly controlled set of administrative tools.
Measurable Improvements Across Security, Operations, and Compliance
Partnering with Ravenswood for privileged access architecture delivers a more defensible environment where credential theft and lateral movement have nowhere to go.
Zero
Credential ExposureEnforceable Credential Isolation
PAWs ensure that privileged credentials are never exposed on general-purpose workstations or used in untrusted environments. By physically and logically separating admin activity from everyday computing, you eliminate the cross-contamination that attackers depend on to escalate privileges.
Fewer
Escalation PathsReduced Privilege Escalation Attack Surface
Tiering removes the flat, over-permissioned structures that make privilege escalation straightforward for attackers. With clear boundaries between Tier 0, Tier 1, and Tier 2 assets, the pathways threat actors use to reach your most critical systems are systematically eliminated.
Contained
Blast RadiusLateral Movement Prevention
Once inside an unhardened environment, attackers move freely. Tiering and PAWs create architectural constraints that contain compromise — limiting what any single credential or workstation can reach and slowing attackers long enough to detect and respond.
Faster
AuditsAudit-Ready Identity Infrastructure
Documented tier boundaries, enforced access policies, and clear records of who can access what make compliance reporting straightforward. Whether you're facing a SOX audit, CMMC assessment, or internal review, your privileged access controls are defensible and transparent.
Grows
With YouScalable Architecture
PAWs and tiering aren't a one-time fix — they're a framework. As your environment evolves, adds systems, or expands into cloud infrastructure, the architecture scales with you without requiring a redesign from the ground up.
Organizations Facing Complex Identity Challenges
Industries We Serve
Commercial Enterprises
Managing distributed workforces and multi-cloud environments
Educational Institutions
Supporting diverse user populations with varying access needs
Regulated Industries
Finance, healthcare, and the defense industrial base
Roles That Benefit
CISOs & Security Leaders
IT Directors & Administrators
Active Directory & Identity Engineers
Cloud & Infrastructure Architects
Security Operations & Blue Team Leads
Risk, Compliance & Audit Teams
Microsoft Identity Experts You Can Trust
When you partner with Ravenswood Technology Group, you're working with the team that literally wrote the book on Active Directory.
Ravenswood specializes in modern AD tiering and Privileged Access Workstation (PAW) design, with hands-on expertise building admin (red) forests and least-privilege access models. Our team includes Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) and Certified Masters who have helped organizations of every size eliminate the lateral movement and credential theft paths that plague flat AD environments.
Just as importantly, we work as a strategic partner to your security and infrastructure teams, not just as a technical implementer. We build tiering and PAW programs that lock down privileged access and contain breaches — without disrupting how your admins get their jobs done.
Recognized Thought Leaders
Our consultants are authors of industry-standard Active Directory reference books used by IT professionals worldwide.
Microsoft MVP Leadership
Projects are led by Microsoft MVPs with deep specialization in identity security and complex AD environments.
Broad Microsoft expertise
Hands-on experience across Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, PKI, GPOs, and hybrid environments.
Actionable Deliverables
We don't just surface problems — we provide detailed design documentation and a prioritized plan to fix them.
Simple, Scalable Architectures
We build solutions that are straightforward to operate and designed to grow with your organization.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a PAW and a standard admin workstation?
A standard admin workstation is often used for both privileged tasks and everyday activities like email and web browsing — making it a high-value target. A PAW is a dedicated, hardened device used exclusively for administrative work, with internet access blocked and a tightly controlled toolset.
How does tiering prevent credential theft?
By enforcing strict boundaries via GPOs, the tiered model ensures that high-privilege Tier 0 credentials — used to manage Active Directory and PKI — never appear on lower-tier devices. Even if a Tier 2 workstation is compromised, an attacker cannot harvest credentials that were never present.
Do you support hybrid and cloud-only environments?
Yes. We have deep experience in hybrid environments (on-premises AD with Entra ID), cloud-only deployments, and complex legacy environments. Our architectures are designed to work across all of these configurations.
What Microsoft technologies are involved?
Our implementations leverage Active Directory (AD), Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD), Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), Entra ID Connect, and Group Policy Objects (GPOs), among other Microsoft identity technologies.
How does this relate to Zero Trust?
Privileged Access Architecture is a foundational component of Zero Trust. The tiered model and PAW deployment enforce the Zero Trust principle that no user or device should be implicitly trusted — especially when accessing your most sensitive systems.
How long does implementation take?
Timelines vary based on the size and complexity of your environment. We begin with an assessment to understand your current state, then deliver a phased roadmap with clear milestones. Most organizations see meaningful security improvements within the first phase of implementation.
Have more questions? Contact Ravenswood Technology Group for expert answers.
Microsoft Products We Use for PAWs & Tiering
We leverage the full power of Microsoft's identity and security platform to deliver enterprise grade privileged access architecture.
Active Directory Domain Services
On-premises directory service that provides centralized authentication, authorization, and policy enforcement for users, devices, and resources across your enterprise environment.
Microsoft Entra
Cloud-based identity platform that provides secure authentication, single sign-on, and conditional access for users and applications across your cloud and hybrid environment.
Microsoft Intune
Cloud-based endpoint management platform that provides device enrollment, configuration, and compliance policy enforcement for devices and applications across your enterprise environment.
Get Started with Ravenswood Technology Group
Ready to protect the keys to your kingdom? Ravenswood can help you design and implement a privileged access architecture that makes privilege escalation and lateral movement a structural impossibility — not just a policy hope.
Take the first step toward Zero Trust-ready identity.