Episode 53 — Audit for Security Drift: Expired Accounts, Privilege Creep, and Risk Signals
This episode focuses on security drift as the slow accumulation of risk that happens when accounts, permissions, and exceptions evolve faster than governance, which DS0-001 commonly tests through prompts about unexpected access, failed audits, or “nobody remembers why this exists.” You’ll learn how to audit for expired accounts, inactive users, orphaned identities, and stale service principals, and you’ll connect those findings to real attack paths such as credential reuse, lateral movement, and persistence through forgotten admin grants. We’ll cover privilege creep by showing how temporary access, emergency fixes, and role sprawl can gradually produce excessive permissions, and you’ll practice methods for detecting it, including comparing entitlements to job function, reviewing high-risk permissions, and identifying accounts that can grant permissions to others. Risk signals will include unusual login patterns, access outside expected hours, repeated authorization failures, sudden spikes in read volume on sensitive tables, and changes to auditing or encryption settings that may indicate tampering. Scenario practice will include preparing for an audit after an acquisition, investigating a suspected insider without breaking business workflows, and designing a periodic review cadence that is realistic for busy teams while still producing defensible evidence of control. Produced by BareMetalCyber.com, where you’ll find more cyber audio courses, books, and information to strengthen your educational path. Also, if you want to stay up to date with the latest news, visit DailyCyber.News for a newsletter you can use, and a daily podcast you can commute with.
