What is an Orphan Account?

What is an Orphan Account?

An Orphan Account refers to an account in an IT environment, financial system, or subscription service that is associated with a specific user or owner that has left the organization or system, been deactivated, or is otherwise no longer available. An Orphan Account is no longer actively administered by the organization and their existence creates an unnecessary risk of identity-related security breaches.

Types of Orphan Accounts

Orphan Accounts in IT Systems

User accounts on servers, databases, or applications that belong to employees, contractors, partners, or vendors that are no longer associated with the organization. Examples include email accounts, Active Directory accounts, or cloud service accounts that no longer have a designated owner.

Orphan Accounts in Financial Systems

These are bank accounts, investment accounts, or credit accounts without an active or known owner. They may include accounts left behind after the death of an individual or are simply forgotten by the owner.

Orphan Accounts in Subscription Services

These are accounts on software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms, or memberships that are not linked to an active user.

Risks Orphan Accounts Present to IGA

Elevated Security Risks

Since they are no longer actively managed, attackers have a better chance of exploiting an Orphan Account undetected and gain unauthorized access to systems, applications, or sensitive data.

Greater Chance of Compliance Failures

For organizations like financial institutions and healthcare providers that must comply with strict industry-specific data protection laws, not actively managing Orphan Accounts can lead to regulatory violations and costly fines.

Unnecessary Costs

Organizations that maintain unused Orphan Accounts, especially for subscription-based cloud-hosted services for which the customer pays “per seat” can incur not only the risk of exploitation, but also needless expense.

How Attackers Can Exploit and Orphan Account

There are several methods attackers may use to exploit an Orphan Account and gain unauthorized access to systems, steal sensitive information, or disrupt operations. These include:

Gain Unauthorized Access

An Orphan Account may retain valid credentials (e.g., usernames and passwords) and attackers can acquire these credentials through phishing or social engineering. If the Orphan Account belongs to a former administrator or a high-level user, attackers can use it to gain elevated privileges within a system.

Avoid Detection and Embed in a System

Since no one actively manages them, Orphan Accounts are frequently overlooked during audits and monitoring. Orphan Accounts often retain permissions from outdated policies which gives attackers access to systems that newer accounts cannot reach. This provides attackers with a stealthier entry point and enables them to operate undetected without raising alarms. Once in, attackers can move laterally and explore other parts of the network and identify additional vulnerabilities or higher-value targets.

Escalation of Privileges

Attackers may use an Orphan Account to establish a foothold in an IT infrastructure, then use tools like privilege escalation scripts to leverage it to gain higher privileges to access sensitive systems and exploit misconfigurations.

Stealing Data

Orphan Accounts may have permissions to access files, databases, or applications containing confidential data. If an Orphan Account includes email access, attackers can gather information or impersonate the former user to deceive others.

Deployment of Malware

Attackers can use Orphan Accounts to install malware, ransomware, or other malicious software without immediate detection.

How to Minimize Orphan Accounts

Regular Audits

Perform periodic reviews of accounts to identify unused or unowned accounts. This process also ensures that users’ access rights remain appropriate and aligned with their current roles. Organizations can build on periodic access reviews by establishing feedback mechanisms for users and administrators to report issues or suggest improvements to the audit process.

Effective Offboarding Processes

Put a process in place that ensures employees, contractors, and other users are no longer able to access an organization’s business systems once they leave the company. Promptly deactivating or reassigning user accounts during employee and contractor exits must be central to this process.

Automation

To maintain the security of an organization’s infrastructure, automating the process of monitoring and controlling access rights ensures that user identities and access rights are properly created, changed, and disabled and helps remedy Orphan Accounts more easily. Organizations can automate alerts to flag unusual activity from accounts, particularly those associated with former users.

Policies and Documentation

Organization’s must maintain clear guidelines for account creation, usage, and deactivation.

Where to Go for Help and to Learn More

An adaptable Identity Lifecycle Management process enables organizations to automate Orphan Account management and mitigate the security threat these dormant accounts present.

Omada Identity Cloud delivers the capabilities, visibility, and control required to automate Orphan Account management. Learn more.