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What is Principle of Least Privilege?

A security principle where users and programs receive only the minimum access rights needed to perform their specific tasks.

Least privilege minimizes the damage potential of compromised accounts, bugs, and insider threats. Implementation includes: database users with table-specific permissions (not superuser), application service accounts with restricted file system access, IAM roles with specific actions on specific resources, sudo rules for specific commands (not ALL), container processes running as non-root, and API keys with scoped permissions. In PostgreSQL, GRANT SELECT ON specific_table TO app_user is preferred over granting all privileges. This principle applies at every level: operating system, database, application, API, and cloud infrastructure. Regular access reviews ensure privileges stay minimal.

Related Terms

CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery)
An attack that tricks authenticated users into submitting unwanted requests to a web application they are logged into.
SIEM (Security Information and Event Management)
A platform that collects, correlates, and analyzes security events from across an organization to detect threats and incidents.
Secret Management
The practice of securely storing, accessing, and rotating sensitive credentials like API keys, passwords, and certificates.
Certificate Pinning
A security technique that associates a host with its expected TLS certificate or public key, preventing man-in-the-middle attacks with fraudulent certificates.
Penetration Testing
An authorized simulated cyberattack on a system to evaluate its security defenses and identify vulnerabilities.
API Security
Practices and mechanisms for protecting APIs from unauthorized access, data breaches, and abuse.
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