Limit Global Administrators to 2-4 for Government & Public Sector

Government & Public Sector organizations face specific regulatory requirements including fedramp, nist-800-53, cis. The PA-01 control helps address these requirements by:

• Between 2 and 4 principals have the Global Administrator role
• No single point of failure (minimum 2)
• Attack surface is minimized (maximum 4)
• No service principals have Global Administrator (use least-privilege)
• No groups have Global Administrator (hidden privilege escalation risk)

Global Administrators have unrestricted access to your entire tenant. Too many increases your attack surface; too few risks lockout. Service principals and groups with Global Admin are especially dangerous - service principals can be compromised via app credentials, and groups hide who actually has the role. Microsoft recommends 2-4 permanent Global Admins for most organizations.

When implementing PA-01 in a government & public sector environment, consider:

• **Regulatory requirements**: fedramp, nist-800-53, cis may mandate specific configurations
• **Risk tolerance**: Government & Public Sector organizations typically have moderate to low risk tolerance
• **Audit frequency**: Plan for regular compliance reviews
• **Documentation**: Maintain detailed records for regulatory inspections

PA-01 requires the following configuration:

• Between 2 and 4 principals have the Global Administrator role
• No single point of failure (minimum 2)
• Attack surface is minimized (maximum 4)
• No service principals have Global Administrator (use least-privilege)
• No groups have Global Administrator (hidden privilege escalation risk)

Review and adjust Global Administrator assignments manually. Remove service principals and groups.

Follow the steps above in your Microsoft Entra admin center to enable this control.