What is least privilege and what does it mean to me?
Least Privilege is a principle that all organisations of any size should adopt for their users, admins and developers.
So, what is least privilege? It’s essentially assigning the minimum permissions to accounts for them to carry out the role they need and nothing else.
Should someone’s account be compromised you wouldn’t want that account to then have access to everything or a bad actor in your organisation causing havoc by deleting data or crashing corporate applications.
Below I have covered 8 reasons why this approach will benefit your organisation.
1. **Risk mitigation**: By limiting access rights, you can significantly reduce the risk of data breaches, insider threats, and accidental data loss.
2. **Compliance adherence**: Many regulatory requirements (e.g., HIPAA, PCI DSS) mandate least privilege practices, helping companies ensure compliance.
3. **Operational efficiency**: Least privilege can improve system stability and reduce IT support costs by preventing users from making unauthorised changes or installing potentially harmful software.
4. **Enhanced accountability**: With clearly defined access levels, it's easier to track and audit user activities, improving accountability across the organisation.
5. **Simplified onboarding and offboarding**: Role-based access control aligned with least privilege principles streamlines the process of granting and revoking access as employees join, move within, or leave the organisation.
6. **Cost-effective security**: Implementing least privilege is a relatively low-cost security measure that can significantly reduce the potential financial impact of a security breach.
7. **Improved productivity**: By providing users with only the access they need, managers can reduce distractions and focus employees on their core responsibilities.
8. **Better incident containment**: In the event of a security incident, least privilege limits the potential damage, making it easier for managers to contain and resolve issues quickly.
If you want to check some platform specific resources see below:
Amazon AWS Strategies for achieving least privilege
Microsoft Azure Enhance security with the principle of least privilege
