How Pomerium Enforces Real-Time, Context-Based Access

TL;DR

For security engineers, compliance owners, and platform teams who need smarter policies for better security posture.

The Problem with Static Access Controls

Most access decisions today are made at login. That’s it. A user signs in successfully and gets access no matter what device they’re on, where they are, what time it is, or whether the context has changed.

That is a problem when:

• Access from an unmanaged device puts sensitive data at risk

• A terminated employee still has a valid session

• It’s 2 a.m. and someone’s logging into production

Static policies ignore context. That breaks trust.

What is Context-Aware Access?

Context-aware access means that access decisions are made based on more than identity alone. It factors in dynamic attributes such as:

• Time of day

• User role or group

• IP range or geolocation

• Device trust signals (when passed via headers)

• Request destination or path

• Third party data for policy evaluation (E.g., On call via Pager Duty)

These signals let you create smarter rules for access like:

• “Only allow access to financial data during business hours”

• “Block access to staging from outside the corporate network”

• “Deny production access unless user is on-call”

Why Context Awareness Matters in True Zero Trust Models

Zero Trust isn’t just about who you are, it’s also about whether access should be allowed right now. When policies adapt to context:

• You reduce over-permissioning and follow principles of least privilege

• You catch anomalies faster

• You block threats before they spread

Context-aware enforcement enables precision security without breaking workflows.

Pomerium’s Policy Engine is Built for Real-Time Decisions

Pomerium evaluates every request against policy at the application layer. Policies are defined and can factor in:

• Identity attributes (email, group, role)

• Time-based logic (e.g., business hours, time ranges)

• Customer headers (for device trust or risk scores)

• Source IP or CIDR

• Request path and method

Policies are enforced consistently across every route, and they execute in real time, bypassing long-lived sessions or stale permissions.

You can change policies and see them take effect instantly, without restarting services or deploying apps.

Real World Use Cases for Context-Based Access

• Time-bound access for high-risk roles — Limit production access to on-call engineers during off-hours or even when they’re on vacation

• Scoped contractor access — Only allow access to internal dashboards during active engagement windows

• Geofencing access to sensitive systems — Block traffic from unapproved regions

• Application-layer access control — Apply route-level rules to dashboards, APIs, or MCP endpoints

Compliance Without the Complexity

Context-aware access isn’t just good security, it’s good security that’s easier to audit.

• Every request is logged with the context that informed the decision

• Policies are traceable, and violations can be alerted in real time

• Helps meet controls in frameworks like SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001, and NIST 800-53

In regulated environments, this level of detail isn’t optional. It’s table stakes. And Pomerium delivers.

Get Started with Smarter Access

You don’t need new tools or app changes. With Pomerium, context-aware policy is built in.

-> Learn how to create your own policies with Pomerium

-> Try it in your own environment

Access should never be static. With Pomerium, it isn’t.