NIST 800-53 REV 5 • ACCESS CONTROL
AC-6(2) — Non-privileged Access for Nonsecurity Functions
Require that users of system accounts (or roles) with access to {{ insert: param, ac-06.02_odp }} use non-privileged accounts or roles, when accessing nonsecurity functions.
Supplemental Guidance
Requiring the use of non-privileged accounts when accessing nonsecurity functions limits exposure when operating from within privileged accounts or roles. The inclusion of roles addresses situations where organizations implement access control policies, such as role-based access control, and where a change of role provides the same degree of assurance in the change of access authorizations for the user and the processes acting on behalf of the user as would be provided by a change between a privileged and non-privileged account.
Practitioner Notes
When performing tasks that do not require elevated privileges, even administrators should use a standard (non-privileged) account. Checking email, browsing the web, and writing documents should never be done with an admin account.
Example 1: Issue every IT admin two accounts: a standard account (e.g., john.smith) for daily work and an admin account (e.g., john.smith-admin) for privileged tasks. Configure the GPO to deny admin accounts access to the internet via proxy authentication rules.
Example 2: In Azure AD, create admin accounts that are cloud-only (not synced from on-premises) with naming convention adm-john.smith@tenant.onmicrosoft.com. Block these accounts from accessing M365 apps like Outlook, Teams, and OneDrive using a Conditional Access policy that restricts them to admin portals only.