How to Fix: Limit Global Administrators to 2-4
Step-by-step guide to implement limit global administrators to 2-4 in your Microsoft 365 environment.
30-60 minutes
Estimated Time
4
Steps
critical
Severity
Recommended Secure
Baseline Level
Why This Matters
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.
Prerequisites
- 1Global Administrator or appropriate admin role in Microsoft Entra ID
- 2Access to Microsoft Entra admin center (entra.microsoft.com)
- 3Privileged Role Administrator role
Expected 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)
Remediation Steps
Review Current State
Assess your current privileged access configuration in Entra ID.
- •Navigate to Microsoft Entra admin center
- •Go to Identity > Roles and administrators
- •Review current role assignments
Plan Changes
Determine what changes need to be made to meet the expected configuration.
- •Identify users with excessive privileges
- •Document required role assignments
- •Plan implementation timeline
Implement Configuration
Apply the necessary changes to your Entra ID environment.
- •Configure PIM if applicable
- •Update role assignments
- •Set appropriate access reviews
Verify and Test
Confirm the changes are working as expected.
- •Run a TrueConfig scan to verify compliance
- •Test user access with affected accounts
- •Document the changes made
Related Resources
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