An administrative takeover occurs when an attacker gains authority equivalent to a privileged cloud administrator, such as the ability to manage identities, change access policies, and control resources. It describes the level of control achieved, not a particular vulnerability or attack technique.
In cloud attacks, a takeover may result from compromised administrator credentials or from flaws in permissions, tenant isolation, or trust between services. Defenders should limit privileged roles, review IAM policies and service-to-service permissions, and monitor for unexpected changes to accounts, policies, and resources. Security testing should use approved, isolated environments and avoid affecting real customer projects.