Restrict Security Group Creation for Energy & Utilities
How energy & utilities organizations should implement GOV-10 for Microsoft 365 security and compliance.
For energy & utilities companies using Microsoft 365, restrict security group creation is a security priority. This guide explains how GOV-10 helps energy & utilities organizations protect their identity infrastructure while meeting industry-specific compliance mandates.
Why Energy & Utilities Organizations Need This Control
Energy & Utilities organizations face specific regulatory requirements including nist-800-53, cis, iso27001. 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 energy & utilities environment, consider:
- **Regulatory requirements**: nist-800-53, cis, iso27001 may mandate specific configurations
- **Risk tolerance**: Energy & Utilities 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.
Energy Compliance Requirements
Energy organizations must comply with these frameworks, all of which address restrict security group creation:
Why This Control Matters for Energy
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 energy & utilities:
- • Nation-state attacks on infrastructure
- • Ransomware targeting OT systems
- • Insider threats in control rooms
For energy & utilities 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.
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