Attack Surface
An attack surface in permissions management refers to the sum total of all potential vulnerabilities that an unauthorized entity could exploit to gain access to a system or data. ...
What is the principle of least privilege. Why is it important?
The Least Privilege Principle declares that a subject should have access to the minimum privilege required to complete a specific task. If no access right is needed, the subject won’t have it. Moreover, the functional management of the subject will control the assignment of rights.
Also known as the Principle of Minimal Privilege or the Principle of Least Authority, the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) is a fundamental concept in computer security and access control. It states that a user or process should only be given the minimum privileges necessary to perform their intended tasks and nothing more.
The principle is based on the idea that granting excessive privileges increases the potential for unauthorized access, misuse, and unintended actions. By adhering to the Principle of Least Privilege, organizations can limit the damage caused by malicious activities, accidental errors, or software vulnerabilities.
One of the key aspects of the Principle of Least Privilege is granting the minimum necessary access. This involves carefully assessing the requirements of each user or process and determining the precise permissions and privileges they need to fulfill their designated functions. For example, an employee in a company’s finance department may only require read and write access to financial records, while a system administrator may require elevated privileges for system maintenance. By implementing the principle, unnecessary privileges are avoided, minimizing the potential for unauthorized access or unintended actions.
Here are some more key aspects of the Principle of Least Privilege:
- Minimum necessary access: Users and processes should have only the permissions and privileges required to fulfill their specific duties or tasks. This minimizes the potential impact of compromised accounts or malicious actions.
- Access control granularity: Access controls should be defined at a fine-grained level, allowing administrators to precisely specify the privileges granted to each user or process. This ensures that users only have access to the specific resources they need.
- Regular review and audit: Privileges should be periodically reviewed and adjusted as needed. This helps maintain the principle over time and ensures that users do not accumulate unnecessary privileges.
- Separation of duties: Sensitive tasks should be divided among multiple users or processes to avoid concentration of power. This reduces the risk of insider threats and makes it more difficult for a single individual to compromise the system.
By applying the Principle of Least Privilege, organizations can enhance the security of their systems and data, mitigate the impact of security breaches, and reduce the attack surface for potential adversaries. It is considered a best practice in various industries and is often implemented through access control mechanisms, such as role-based access control (RBAC) or mandatory access control (MAC) policies.
30-Day Free Trial
Get StartedWhat violates the principle of least privilege?
How do you implement the principle of least privilege?
A
B
C
California Consumer Privacy Act
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Cloud Access Policies
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Connect Azure AD with Mongo Atlas
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Cloud Workload Protection (CWP)
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Cloud Security
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Cloud PAM
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Credential Stuffing
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Continuous Adaptive Risk Trust Assessment (CARTA)
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Credentials Rotation
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM)
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Cloud Access Management
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Cloud Privileged Access Management
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Credential Theft
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Context-Based Access Management
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
D
DevOps vs DevSecOps
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
F
G
H
I
IGA (Identity Governance Administration)
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Identity Governance
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Identity Provider (IDP)
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS)
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Identity Governance Administration
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
IT Security Policy
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Incident Response
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Insider Threats
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
J
L
Log Analysis Management
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
M
O
P
Permissions Management
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Phishing
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
PAM vs IAM
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Privileged Access Management as a Service (PAMaaS)
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Password Vaulting
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Privileged Identity Management (PIM)
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Privilege Creep
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
R
S
Standing Privileges
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Shadow Access
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
System for Cross-domain Identity Management (SCIM)
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
In information security, the principle of least privilege (PoLP), AKA the principle of minimal privilege (PoMP) or the principle of least authority (PoLA), requires that in users in the organization should only...
T
V
Z