Bullhorn Achieves Zero Trust Access by Replacing Legacy PAM with StrongDM

Bullhorn, a leading provider of recruitment software solutions, faced a familiar challenge for high-growth enterprises: managing access to an ever-expanding internal infrastructure while maintaining robust security and operational efficiency.

Legacy PAM Struggled to Support Enterprise Growth

Bullhorn’s technical landscape is complex, with 16 different product offerings and a footprint spanning multiple public clouds, including AWS, GCP, and Azure. Prior to StrongDM, Bullhorn used CyberArk to manage access to MS SQL databases. However, as Bullhorn’s product offerings expanded, so did their infrastructure complexity, introducing database types like MySQL, Postgres, and Oracle.

Over time, Bullhorn's team faced issues such as latency, frequent disconnections, outages over the weekends, and unmanageable access workflows. For a small team with an on-call rotation, the weekend outages were particularly frustrating.

According to William Vu, Infrastructure Network Security Manager,

“One of the most common triggers for a weekend escalation was the fact that our previous PAM provider would go down. So the reliability over the weekend was always something to keep an eye on. That’s something we just don't have to worry about anymore with StrongDM.”

End users also complained of a sluggish experience, especially when accessing remote databases via appliances, which were often hosted separately from the resources they were meant to secure. The complexity of the legacy PAM solution made it increasingly difficult for the DevOps and security teams to manage effectively.

“We were a Legacy PAM house for years. It worked well enough when Bullhorn was smaller, but as the number of cross-functional users increased, it became a headache. We were constantly juggling licenses, and the user experience did not meet expectations," said Vu.

Total PAM Replacement

When Bullhorn decided it was time to scale up to a modern solution, they evaluated multiple contemporary PAM platforms. Among the vendors they investigated, StrongDM stood out for its simplicity. They appreciated the way StrongDM allowed their team to leverage preferred clients without having to sacrifice auditability.

StrongDM’s lightweight, agentless architecture provided Bullhorn with a solution that was easy to deploy and maintain, while still offering robust audit capabilities. Bullhorn’s engineers were particularly impressed by the ability to use their preferred database clients, which was a significant improvement over their previous provider's restrictive RDP-based sessions.

"With StrongDM, our users can now leverage any SQL client they prefer, whether it's MS SQL, MySQL Workbench, or others. That kind of flexibility made a huge difference for us," Vu noted.

No More License Rotations

One of the key advantages Bullhorn gained with StrongDM was the ability to automate and centralize access management across their entire infrastructure. The previous setup involved constant license juggling, leading to engineers frequently losing access when sessions timed-out. StrongDM eliminated this problem by offering seamless role-based access control (RBAC) and automated access workflows.

This automation not only improved operational efficiency but also reinforced their Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) and helped them move closer to their Zero Trust security goals.

Frustration-Free Compliance for SOC 2 and ISO 27001 Audits

As a company that operates under SOC 2 and ISO 27001 compliance frameworks, Bullhorn needed a solution that could simplify audit processes and provide detailed session logs. StrongDM’s audit capabilities, including query logging, exceeded Bullhorn’s expectations.

"With our previous PAM, we had session recordings, but they were only so useful—nobody was going to sit through hours of footage to figure out what code execution that they typed up (or most likely copy and pasted) into their query field (a motion that is not recorded as a keystroke in Legacy PAM solutions). But with StrongDM, we know exactly what's being done on the databases. StrongDM captures every query and keystroke, which has been huge for us from a compliance perspective," Vu remarked.

Hassle-Free Migration to Modern PAM

The switch from CyberArk to StrongDM was smooth, thanks in part to the exceptional support from StrongDM’s technical team. According to Bullhorn, the proof of concept (POC) process was so simple that they were able to transition the POC environment directly into production with minimal effort.

"From POC to production, the transition was seamless. StrongDM’s support team was always available, and we didn’t even need to use our professional service hours because the onboarding was so easy. The POC environment was transitioned into our production environment so seamlessly, most of the leg work was done before we even bought StrongDM," Vu said.

Secure Access for a Growing Enterprise

Bullhorn’s move to StrongDM has not only improved their access management processes but also positioned the company for future growth with a secure, scalable, and user-friendly solution. With StrongDM, Bullhorn can focus on their core business while maintaining the security and compliance required of the modern day enterprise.

Discover how StrongDM can transform your access management strategy with a demo today.