# Assign Owners to orphaned accounts in your workspace

{% hint style="info" %}
**Who can use this feature?**

* Workspace **Owners**, **Super Admins**, and **Admins**
* Only supported using the Cerby web app
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In Cerby, orphaned accounts are accounts that remain in the workspace but don't have a valid **Owner** assigned to them. For example, if a workspace member is deprovisioned from the workspace and they were the **Owner** of an account, the account becomes an orphan.

Orphaned accounts can pose a significant security risk if overlooked, as they continue to hold access privileges without being actively monitored.

As a workspace **Owner**, **Super Admin**, or **Admin**, you can quickly identify all orphaned accounts through the Security Hub and proactively assign one or more **Owners**. Additionally, by not having owners, the following account management capabilities are lost in Cerby:

* Sharing or removing access from the account.
* Updating the account settings.
* Managing account security, including multi-factor authentication (MFA) and password rotation.
* Monitoring user events through the **Activity** view.

{% hint style="danger" %}
**IMPORTANT** : There is a known issue where an account is still considered orphaned if no active user in the workspace is assigned as the **Owner**, even when one or more teams have access to that account.
{% endhint %}

***

## Assign Owners to orphaned accounts in your workspace

To assign one or more **Owners** to orphaned accounts in your workspace, you must complete the following steps:

1. Log in to your [Cerby](https://app.cerby.com/) workspace.
2. Select the **Security Hub** option from the left navigation drawer. The **Security Hub** page is displayed.
3. Click the **Assign owners** option in the **Orphaned accounts** card. The **Orphaned accounts** page is displayed with information about orphaned accounts.
4. Select one or multiple orphaned accounts to assign one or more Owners:
   * For one account:
     1. Click the **More options** (...) icon at the right of the orphaned account. A drop-down menu is displayed.
   * For multiple accounts:
     1. Select the orphaned accounts using the checkboxes to the left of the account names. A menu is displayed at the bottom of the page indicating the number of orphaned accounts you have selected.

{% hint style="warning" %}
**IMPORTANT:** You can only select 20 accounts at a time.
{% endhint %}

5. Select the **Assign Owner** option. The **Assign Owner** dialog box is displayed.

   1. Enter the name of the member in the search bar. The members that match the name are displayed on a list automatically.
   2. Select the corresponding member from the list. The member is listed in the field.
   3. Repeat steps a and b as necessary to select multiple members.

   **IMPORTANT:** Only 20 workspace members can be assigned as **Owners** at a time.

   4. Click the **Next** button. The **Assign account Owners** dialog box is displayed.
6. (Optional) Write a custom message to the assigned **Owners** in the **Message** field.
7. Click the **Assign Owners** button. The assigned **Owners** receive an email notifying them of their assignment. A success message is displayed, and the selected orphaned accounts are removed from the list.

Now you are done.

***

## Understand the temperature widget for the orphaned accounts

The temperature widget is placed at the top right corner of the **Orphaned accounts** page. It provides a quick, visual gauge of the number of orphaned accounts and the relative risk they pose to your workspace. If the number of orphaned accounts exceeds a defined safe limit, the widget shifts to a higher temperature, signaling the need for attention.

**Figure 1** shows an example of the temperature widget.

<figure><img src="/files/dfNhQ92ixytD1E4Ynmso" alt=""><figcaption><p>Figure 1. The Temperature widget is located at the top right corner of the Orphaned accounts page</p></figcaption></figure>

The widget displays various colors representing the volume and severity of orphaned accounts. The colors represent the following:

* Green means zero accounts are orphaned
* Yellow means fewer than five accounts are orphaned
* Orange means fewer than 10 accounts are orphaned
* Red means more than or equal to 10 accounts are orphaned

***

## View the owner assignations for orphaned accounts in the Activity view

As a workspace **Owner**, **Super Admin**, or **Admin,** you can track when orphaned accounts have been assigned to an **Owner** through the [**Activity**](https://help.cerby.com/getting-started/concepts/audit-and-activity/activity) page in Cerby using the Account **Owner Assigned** filter in the **Event** field.

To learn more about the events in the **Activity** view and how to filter them, refer to the following articles:

* [Filter events in the Activity view](https://help.cerby.com/cerby-web-app/activity/filter-events-in-the-activity-view)
* [Monitor events in the Activity view](https://help.cerby.com/cerby-web-app/activity/monitor-events-in-the-activity-page)


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