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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

SOC (Security Operations Center)
A centralized team and facility responsible for monitoring, detecting, analyzing, and responding to cybersecurity threats 24/7.
Rate Limiting
A technique that controls the number of requests a client can make to a server within a specified time period.
DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing)
Testing a running application from the outside by sending malicious requests to discover security vulnerabilities.
RBAC (Role-Based Access Control)
An access control model where permissions are assigned to roles, and users are assigned to roles rather than getting permissions directly.
Cryptographic Key Management
The practices and procedures for generating, storing, distributing, rotating, and revoking encryption keys securely.
SQL Injection
An attack where malicious SQL code is inserted into application queries through user input to access or manipulate the database.
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