Technology

Common Fate Aims to Simplify Privileged Access Management for Developers

AifrontierFebruary 18, 202506 mins

Table of Contents

Introduction

In today’s digital age, organizations rely heavily on technology to operate efficiently. However, this reliance also creates a significant security risk if not managed properly. Privileged access management (PAM) is a crucial aspect of maintaining the security and integrity of an organization’s technology environment.

What is Privileged Access Management?

Privileged access management provides the ability to control access to sensitive parts of your technology environment. Rather than giving everyone access to these resources or conversely, no one, PAM allows you to apply permissions granularly.

The Challenges of Implementing PAM

Implementing PAM without the right tools can be challenging. Organizations need a robust and secure solution that can manage access to sensitive resources effectively.

Common Fate: An Open-Source Solution

Common Fate is an Australian startup founded by two former cybersecurity consultants. They aim to provide organizations with the tools they need to implement PAM efficiently. The company has developed an open-source tool called Granted, which provides a robust and secure solution for managing access to sensitive resources.

The Need for PAM in Organizations

Co-founder Fraser Ricupero explains that Common Fate’s mission is to ensure employees in organizations, particularly engineering teams and security professionals, have access to the correct level of internal services. This includes cloud infrastructure services and critical applications like 1Password, GitHub, Salesforce, and other SaaS applications.

"We exist to ensure that employees in organizations, namely, engineering teams and security professionals within the organization, can get access to the correct level of internal services," Ricupero said.

Developers’ Needs

Co-founder Chris Norman highlights the importance of focusing on developers when implementing PAM. "We differ in the sense that we are developer- and practitioner-first and developer-focused," he said. "This means directly integrating with internal command-line tooling, and a huge focus on command line user experience."

The Importance of Diversity in Hiring

Common Fate understands the importance of diversity in hiring, particularly in cloud security. Ricupero emphasized that diverse teams perform better, and they are looking for candidates who bring new perspectives and backgrounds to their team.

"We are very much aware of those issues in technology, and seemingly these issues are considerably more pronounced in cloud security," Ricupero said. "From the research that we’ve done internally, we see that diverse teams perform better quite simply."

Seed Investment

Common Fate has secured a $3.1 million seed investment led by Work-Bench, with participation from Haystack Ventures and Essence VC.

Conclusion

Implementing PAM is crucial for maintaining the security and integrity of an organization’s technology environment. Common Fate provides organizations with a robust and secure solution through their open-source tool Granted and early access cloud service. Their focus on developers and emphasis on diversity in hiring set them apart from other PAM products on the market.

Future Plans

Common Fate plans to keep its team lean for now, but they are looking to expand as needed. They have an open role for a community success engineer and will continue to prioritize diversity in their hiring process.