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Give employees standard accounts for everyday work, grant administrative permissions only for defined tasks, and limit access to the devices and systems each role needs. Where your systems support it, make elevation temporary; use identity and device-health checks before allowing access to sensitive resources; and segment networks so one device or account cannot reach everything. Review permissions and logs regularly. No single policy or product replaces these layers.
How do you remove routine admin rights without blocking work?
Start by identifying which tasks genuinely require elevated permissions, then separate those tasks from ordinary work such as email and browsing. NIST SP 800-171 Revision 3 control 03.01.06 says to restrict privileged accounts to defined personnel or roles and to use non-privileged accounts for non-security tasks. Its discussion explains: “Requiring the use of non-privileged accounts when such access is not needed can limit unauthorized access to and manipulation of security functions or security-relevant information.” Read NIST SP 800-171 Revision 3, control 03.01.06.
- Inventory existing access. Find users with privileged accounts, local device administrators, admin groups, service accounts, remote access paths, endpoint-management systems, and network segments. For each privilege, record the work it supports and who owns that work.
- Move routine users to standard accounts. Remove local administrator rights where they are not needed for an assigned task. Keep a separate privileged identity for approved administration rather than using it for ordinary activity.
- Test common support tasks. Check software installation, updates, troubleshooting, and other routine workflows with standard accounts. Document which task fails and what specific elevation it needs before granting broader rights.
- Provide a controlled exception path. Give staff a way to request or receive the narrow permission needed for a legitimate task. Record who approved it, what task it supports, and when the access should end.
Removing broad local administrator access may expose workflows that depend on it. Treat those as specific support or application requirements to solve, not as automatic reasons to restore permanent administrator rights.
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How should privileged roles be scoped?
Build roles around real job functions and grant only the actions, resources, and device or user groups those functions require. A role that can manage a defined set of devices is narrower than one that can administer an entire tenant or domain. Microsoft Intune’s role-based access control (RBAC) guidance describes assigning permissions that control what administrators can do and which users or devices they can manage: Intune role-based access control overview.
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Define the task and its boundary
- List the operations a person needs to perform, such as managing a particular device group or handling a defined support function.
- Limit the role to the relevant assets, users, or groups as well as the required actions. Restricting actions without restricting scope can still leave an administrator with unnecessarily broad reach.
- Assign roles to named people or clearly defined job functions, and document the business reason for each assignment.
Check the role before assigning it
Ask whether a narrower built-in or custom role can do the job, whether the assignment covers more assets than required, and whether every included action is necessary. If the role is broad, record why the narrower alternative does not meet the operational need.
When should elevated access be temporary?
Use time-limited activation when an administrator needs a role only for occasional or task-specific work and the identity platform supports that workflow. Instead of leaving the role active for routine use, let an eligible administrator activate it for a defined period. Microsoft Entra’s security guidance describes just-in-time access with options such as multifactor authentication (MFA), approval, and limited activation duration: Microsoft Entra security best practices.
- Set an appropriate duration. Make access long enough to complete the task, but not an open-ended standing assignment.
- Require stronger checks for higher-risk work. Use MFA and approval where appropriate to the role and task.
- Keep an audit trail. Ensure the activation and its approval are recorded so the organization can later establish who elevated access and when.
Not every system or role will support just-in-time activation. Where it is unavailable, keep standing access narrowly assigned, review it more closely, and remove it when the operational need ends.
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How should identity and device condition affect access?
Do not treat a successful sign-in as proof that every device should reach every company resource. Require appropriate identity verification and consider whether the device meets the organization’s security requirements before granting access to sensitive applications or data. Microsoft Intune’s Zero Trust guidance describes using device compliance policies and Conditional Access as inputs to access decisions: Intune Zero Trust guidance.
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- Define which device conditions matter for the resource, such as whether required management and security controls are present.
- Use access policies to allow, restrict, or deny access based on identity and device compliance signals.
- Decide what should happen when a device stops meeting the requirements or a risk signal appears; restricting or revoking access may be appropriate for sensitive resources.
These checks complement least-privilege permissions: they govern whether a user and device may connect, while roles determine what an authorized administrator may do once access is granted.
How can network segmentation limit employee reach?
Separate networks and systems by function, then permit only the connections each role and service needs. For example, ordinary user devices should not automatically have a path to endpoint-management interfaces or sensitive servers simply because they are on a company network. CISA recommends segmentation using controls such as access-control lists (ACLs), firewalls, and VLANs, and advises against managing devices from the internet: CISA guidance on communications infrastructure visibility and hardening.
- Map the necessary paths among user devices, management planes, servers, and sensitive systems.
- Use network controls to allow required traffic and block unnecessary routes between segments.
- Keep administrative interfaces isolated and do not expose device-management access directly to the public internet.
Segmentation limits network reach; it does not replace account controls, role scoping, or monitoring. A permitted network path should not itself grant administrative authority.
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Protect the consoles and services that can change device or identity settings as high-value administrative assets. An attacker who gains control of those systems may be able to affect many users or endpoints. CISA’s advisory on threat activity against communications infrastructure calls for treating endpoint-management systems as high-value assets and emphasizes detection focused on identity and access management (IAM) as well as network activity: CISA cybersecurity advisory AA23-059A.
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- Limit who can reach and administer management systems, and keep those permissions separate from everyday user access.
- Monitor administrative changes and activity in identity and endpoint-management systems alongside relevant network events.
- Investigate unexpected role changes, elevation, or management activity rather than relying only on alerts from user endpoints.
How do you keep the controls effective over time?
Access that was justified when assigned can become unnecessary after a role change, project, or departure. Revalidate privileged assignments on a defined schedule and when people change roles or leave. Inspect elevation and management logs to confirm that access is being used as intended, and remove stale assignments.
When choosing or configuring identity, endpoint, or network controls, compare the practical differences that affect your environment:
| What to assess | Questions to answer |
|---|---|
| Permission granularity and scope | Can the control limit both the actions a person can take and the users, devices, or resources they can affect? |
| Duration of access | Does it support temporary elevation for a task, or does it leave permissions assigned continuously? |
| Identity and device signals | Can access decisions use the identity checks and device-health information your organization requires? |
| Approvals and audit evidence | Can you establish who requested, approved, activated, or used privileged access? |
| Compatibility | Does it work with your current operating systems and identity architecture? |
| Operational friction | Can staff complete legitimate support work through a safe process without relying on broad standing rights? |
Use these criteria to judge whether each control fits the task it is meant to address. A control that scopes administrator actions does not by itself segment the network; a compliant-device check does not decide which actions a role may perform.
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