Glossary term
Principle of Least Privilege
Subject: Technology, Cyber and Data, Information Security Frameworks
Also known as: Least privilege, Minimum necessary access
Least privilege is the rule that every person, account or application gets the smallest set of permissions that lets it do its job, and keeps them only while the need lasts.
Explanation
Most access problems come from accumulation. People change roles and keep old rights, shared accounts pile up, and software runs with administrator rights because it is easier. Least privilege reverses that default. Access is granted by role and task, reviewed on a schedule, and removed when the need ends. Higher rights, such as administrator access, are time-limited and logged. The principle applies to software and service accounts as well as to people. It limits the damage from a stolen password, a careless click or a malicious insider, because the attacker inherits only a narrow set of rights. It also supports Segregation of Duties, though the two are different controls. Auditors test it by sampling user rights against job roles. When one account is compromised, the intruder reaches a small slice of the estate instead of all of it.
Example
During an access review at a manufacturer, an auditor finds 40 former project staff still able to edit supplier bank details in the finance system. The company removes the rights, moves approval to a small named group, and schedules a quarterly review so access follows the current role.
Not to be confused with
- Segregation of Duties (SoD)
- Least privilege limits how much access one account has. SoD stops one person controlling every step of a sensitive process.