Restrict Security Group Creation for Education & Research
How education & research organizations should implement GOV-10 for Microsoft 365 security and compliance.
For education & research companies using Microsoft 365, restrict security group creation is a security priority. This guide explains how GOV-10 helps education & research organizations protect their identity infrastructure while meeting industry-specific compliance mandates.
Why Education & Research Organizations Need This Control
Education & Research organizations face specific regulatory requirements including cis, nist-800-53, soc2. The GOV-10 control helps address these requirements by:
- Non-admin users cannot create security groups
- Security group creation is restricted to administrators
- authorizationPolicy.defaultUserRolePermissions.allowedToCreateSecurityGroups is false
Security groups are used in access grants and policy targeting. If any user can create them, group sprawl and ungoverned access assignments follow, weakening least-privilege and complicating access reviews.
Industry-Specific Considerations
When implementing GOV-10 in a education & research environment, consider:
- **Regulatory requirements**: cis, nist-800-53, soc2 may mandate specific configurations
- **Risk tolerance**: Education & Research organizations typically have moderate to low risk tolerance
- **Audit frequency**: Plan for regular compliance reviews
- **Documentation**: Maintain detailed records for regulatory inspections
How to Configure
GOV-10 requires the following configuration:
- Non-admin users cannot create security groups
- Security group creation is restricted to administrators
- authorizationPolicy.defaultUserRolePermissions.allowedToCreateSecurityGroups is false
Detect-only. Fix in Entra admin center > Groups > General > Users can create security groups = No.
Follow the steps above in your Microsoft Entra admin center to enable this control.
Education Compliance Requirements
Education organizations must comply with these frameworks, all of which address restrict security group creation:
Why This Control Matters for Education
Security groups are used in access grants and policy targeting. If any user can create them, group sprawl and ungoverned access assignments follow, weakening least-privilege and complicating access reviews.
Common threats in education & research:
- • Phishing targeting student credentials
- • Research IP theft
- • Ransomware on research systems
For education & research organizations, GOV-10 is a key component of a compliant Microsoft 365 security posture. TrueConfig helps you implement and maintain this control while meeting industry-specific requirements.
Ready to secure your education Microsoft 365 environment?
TrueConfig continuously monitors your tenant against education best practices, including this control and 6+ others.