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πŸ›‘οΈ Microsoft Entra ID Admin accounts are not used for daily operations🟒βšͺ

  • Contextual name: πŸ›‘οΈ Admin accounts are not used for daily operations🟒βšͺ
  • ID: /ce/ca/azure/monitor/admin-accounts-for-daily-operations
  • Tags:
  • Policy Type: COMPLIANCE_POLICY
  • Policy Categories: SECURITY

Description​

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Description​

Microsoft Azure admin accounts should not be used for routine, non-administrative tasks.

Rationale​

Using admin accounts for daily operations increases the risk of accidental misconfigurations and security breaches.

Impact​

Minor administrative overhead includes managing separate accounts, enforcing stricter access controls, and potential licensing costs for advanced security features.

Audit​

From Azure Portal​
Monitor​
  1. Go to Monitor.
  2. Click Activity log.
  3. Review the activity log and ensure that admin accounts are not being used for daily operations.
Microsoft Entra ID​
  1. Go to Microsoft Entra ID.
  2. Under Monitoring, click Sign-in logs.
  3. Review the sign-in logs and ensure that admin accounts are not being accessed more frequently than necessary.

References​

  1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/security/privileged-access-workstations/critical-impact-accounts

Remediation​

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Remediation​

If admin accounts are being used for daily operations, consider the following:

  • Monitor and alert on unusual activity.
  • Enforce the principle of least privilege.
  • Revoke any unnecessary administrative access.
  • Use Conditional Access to limit access to resources.
  • Ensure that administrators have separate admin and user accounts.
  • Use Microsoft Entra ID Protection helps organizations detect, investigate, and remediate identity-based risks.
  • Use Privileged Identity Management (PIM) in Microsoft Entra ID to limit standing administrator access to privileged roles, discover who has access, and review privileged access.

policy.yaml​

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Linked Framework Sections​

SectionSub SectionsInternal RulesPoliciesFlagsCompliance
πŸ’Ό CIS Azure v4.0.0 β†’ πŸ’Ό 6.3.1 Ensure that Azure admin accounts are not used for daily operations (Manual)1no data
πŸ’Ό Cloudaware Framework β†’ πŸ’Ό User Account Management17no data