GOV-02Advanced

How to Fix: Automatically Disable Stale Accounts

Step-by-step guide to implement automatically disable stale accounts in your Microsoft 365 environment.

5-10 minutes

Estimated Time

4

Steps

medium

Severity

Enhanced Security

Baseline Level

Why This Matters

Manual reviews miss accounts. Automated disabling ensures that former employees, forgotten accounts, and inactive identities cannot be used by attackers. The 14-day warning prevents disruption for legitimate users.

Prerequisites

  • 1Global Administrator or appropriate admin role in Microsoft Entra ID
  • 2Access to Microsoft Entra admin center (entra.microsoft.com)
  • 3Microsoft Entra ID P2 license

Expected Configuration

  • Accounts inactive for 90+ days are automatically disabled
  • A warning notification is sent 14 days before disabling
  • Emergency access accounts and service accounts are excluded

Remediation Steps

1

Review Current Configuration

Assess your current configuration in Microsoft Entra admin center.

  • Navigate to the relevant section in Entra admin center
  • Document current settings
  • Compare against expected state
2

Plan Implementation

Determine the changes needed to meet the expected configuration.

  • Review expected configuration requirements
  • Identify affected users or resources
  • Plan rollout strategy
3

Implement Changes

Apply the necessary configuration changes.

  • Make required configuration updates
  • Apply to appropriate scope
  • Document changes made
4

Validate and Monitor

Verify the changes are working as expected.

  • Run TrueConfig scan to verify compliance
  • Test affected functionality
  • Set up ongoing monitoring

Auto-Remediation Available

TrueConfig can automatically fix this control for you. Enable auto-remediation to have this configuration applied and maintained automatically.

Learn about auto-remediation

Related Resources

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