Least privilege
Least privilege limits permissions to the required task and data scope. Necessary work remains possible while unnecessary powers are removed.
Least privilege means giving a person or technical service only the rights and resources needed for the assigned task. The restriction concerns both the permitted action and its data scope.
An export service example
A hypothetical service produces order exports for a particular customer company. It needs to read the relevant orders and generate the export file. Deleting contracts or changing other companies' orders is outside that task.
The principle does not require making every account read-only: necessary editing must be explicitly permitted. Rights need review when duties change. An appropriate permission list alone does not demonstrate that every access path enforces it correctly.
Sources
Related terms
- Identity and access managementIAM combines management of digital identities with their access rights. Accounts, role changes and removal of old permissions belong together.
- Role-based access controlRBAC connects permissions to roles and assigns people to those roles. The data scope must be clear alongside the role name.
- Attribute-based access controlABAC evaluates access using defined properties and rules. The origin and freshness of those properties are part of the design.
- WebAuthnWebAuthn is the browser API for public-key sign-in. The server must validate the browser response before accepting authentication.
- PasskeyA passkey enables sign-in with a service-bound key pair. Device changes, account recovery and account permissions remain separate responsibilities.
- Multi-factor authenticationMFA uses different types of authentication factors. Asking for the same factor type several times does not create a multi-factor check.
Your project with ASES
Describe your project to us. We will get back to you with an initial assessment.