| name | cis-gworkspace-1.1.2 |
| description | Ensure no more than 4 Super Admin accounts exist |
| category | cis-gworkspace |
| version | 1.3.0 |
| author | cyberstrike-official |
| tags | ["cis","gcp","google-workspace","admin","super-admin","directory","users","sharing"] |
| cis_id | 1.1.2 |
| cis_benchmark | CIS Google Workspace Foundations Benchmark v1.3.0 |
| tech_stack | ["gcp","google-workspace"] |
| cwe_ids | [] |
| chains_with | [] |
| prerequisites | [] |
| severity_boost | {} |
1.1.2 Ensure no more than 4 Super Admin accounts exist (Manual)
Description
Having more than one Super Admin account is needed primarily so that a single point of failure can be avoided, but having too many should be avoided.
Rationale
From a security point of view, having a large number of Super Admin accounts is a bad practice. In general, all users should be assigned the least privileges needed to do their job. This includes Administrators since not everyone that needs to "Administer Something" needs to be a Super Admin. Google Workspaces provides many predefined Administration Roles and also allows the creation of Custom Roles with very granular permission selection.
Impact
There should be no user impact, but Administrators should have a normal (low privilege) and an Administrative (high privilege) account.
Audit Procedure
To verify this setting via the Google Workspace Admin Console:
- Log in to
https://admin.google.com as an administrator
- Go to
Directory and click on Users, this will show a list of all users
- Click on
+ Add a filter, select Admin role, check the Super admin box, and then select Apply
- The list of Users displayed will only be those with the
Super Admin role
- Make sure no more than four (4) users are listed
Expected Result
No more than four (4) users should be listed with the Super Admin role.
Remediation
Reduce the number of accounts with a "Super Admin" role.
Default Value
All Google Workspace tenants will have one Super Admin initially.
References
CIS Controls
| Controls Version | Control | IG 1 | IG 2 | IG 3 |
|---|
| v8 | 5.1 Establish and Maintain an Inventory of Accounts | x | x | x |
| v7 | 4.1 Maintain Inventory of Administrative Accounts | | x | x |
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