Orphaned Account Checker

2. Owner has left, or owner not recognised

A non-person account needs a person who answers for it. When that person has left, the account still works and nobody is asked about it; when the owner cannot be found in the staff list, the list cannot say who answers.

The rule it applies

The account is not a personal account, its owner names a person, and the staff list is pasted: when the list says that person has left it is a gap; when the owner is not in the list at all it is a question ("owner not recognised, confirm"). Without a staff list this finding never fires.

A question for the account owner

Who owns this account now, and should it still exist?

Clauses

5 across the regimes you tick
RegimeClauseRead on
ISO/IEC 27001ISO/IEC 27001 A.5.16 Identity managementevery account type
CIS ControlsCIS Controls 5.5 Establish and Maintain an Inventory of Service Accountsevery account type
SOC 2SOC 2 CC6.2 Registering and authorising users before issuing credentialsevery account type
NIST SP 800-53NIST SP 800-53 AC-2(3) Account management: Disable Accountsevery account type
NIS2NIS2 Art. 21(2)(i) Human resources security, access control policies and asset managementevery account type

The first clause, set out

ISO/IEC 27001 A.5.16Identity management

Identities are to be managed throughout their whole life cycle. Purpose (stated in ISO/IEC 27002:2022): enables unique identification of people and systems accessing organizational assets and appropriate assignment of access rights. As an Annex A reference control, it is compared with the controls determined in risk treatment (6.1.3 c) and recorded in the Statement of Applicability as included or excluded, with the justification and implementation status (6.1.3 d); implementation guidance is ISO/IEC 27002:2022 5.16.

What an auditor asks to see: Statement of Applicability entry for control A.5.16, showing inclusion or justified exclusion, implementation status and the risks it treats; Identity management procedure covering creation, verification, activation, change, disablement and removal; Evidence that identities are verified against trusted documents before issue; A register of shared identities with the business justification and approval for each; A register of non-human identities (service accounts, machine identities) with segregated approval and an independent oversight record
Where account lists usually fall short: Generic shared accounts exist without documented justification or approval; Service accounts have no owner and no periodic oversight; Identities of leavers remain enabled for weeks because HR notifications are not integrated; The same person holds several identities in one directory, undermining accountability
Source: ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A

See it on the specimenAll fourteen findings