Privileged account
A privileged account has permissions to perform administrative or other security-sensitive functions beyond those available to an ordinary user account.
Privilege comes from permissions
An account is privileged because of what it can do. Its name and its owner’s job title tell you much less than its permissions and the resources those permissions cover. An account that administers one application can be privileged without having authority over the whole organization.
Microsoft recommends separate accounts for Entra administration and everyday work. That separation keeps routine activity away from the administrative account, but it does not reduce the permissions assigned to it.
Account type and access policy are different questions
“Privileged account” describes the access an account holds. Least privilege asks whether that access is necessary. Privileged access management describes how the organization controls and monitors it.
When reviewing an administrative action, identify the account that performed it and its effective permissions at the time. A support ticket can explain the approval; the system’s administrative record identifies the account that made the change. Keep both when the investigation needs to establish who authorized and who executed it.