Identity Governance · Quarterly Checklist

Privileged Access Review Tracker

A recurring quarterly certification workflow to audit admin accounts, remove standing privileges, and validate least-privilege principles across systems.

Execute this structured certification cycle every quarter to eliminate orphaned administrator accounts, review active service principals, and minimize lateral movement paths.

Certification Progress 0 of 8 controls reviewed (0%)

Phase 1: Scope & Population Discovery

Export Master Identity & Role Inventory

Pull current global user lists and admin group memberships from IdP (Okta, Entra ID, Google Workspace).

Owner: Identity & Access Management Identify Orphaned & Vendor Accounts

Cross-reference active privileged users against active HR roster and active third-party contractor contracts.

Owner: HR & Security Operations

Phase 2: Manager & Resource Owner Sign-Off

Cloud Infrastructure Admin Review

Validate AWS/Azure/GCP root and superuser access rights directly with engineering and DevOps leads.

Owner: Cloud Infrastructure Leads SaaS Super-Admin & OAuth Certification

Review high-privilege seats across core business software (Salesforce, GitHub, Workspace) and third-party API app grants.

Owner: IT Applications Service Account & API Key Audit

Verify ownership, rotation schedules, and usage telemetry for all persistent programmatic non-human accounts.

Owner: Security Architecture

Phase 3: Revocation & Compliance Sign-Off

Revoke Unjustified or Stale Privileges

Downgrade accounts where duties have shifted or re-certification was unapproved by resource owners.

Owner: IT & Helpdesk Enforce MFA / PIM Just-In-Time Rules

Confirm that remaining admin accounts require hardware token MFA and time-bound privileged identity management (PIM) activation.

Owner: Identity Team Archive Audit Trail for Compliance Record

Export certified access review logs and sign-off records into compliance storage for regulatory and audit readiness.

Owner: Compliance & Governance

Standard Practice: Quarterly reviews minimize the window of exposure for standing privilege escalation and lateral movement.

Subscribe to Updates

What's Hot