Least privilege

How it is used

Usually in the phrase 'the principle of least privilege'. It comes up in security reviews, audits and IAM work: 'this role breaks least privilege', 'scope it down to least privilege'.

Example sentences

1. Following least privilege, the reporting service can read the database but never write to it.

2. Giving everyone admin rights goes against the principle of least privilege.

Common collocations

• principle of least privilege
• least-privilege access
• apply least privilege
• least-privilege policy

Related terms

• IAMShort for identity and access management: the system that controls who or what can sign in to a cloud account and what they are allowed to do there.
• secretA sensitive value that a system needs to work, such as a password, API key, token or private key, which must be stored safely and never shown in code or logs.
• security groupA virtual firewall in the cloud with rules that say which network traffic, by port and source, may reach or leave a server or other resource.
• encryptionTurning data into an unreadable form that can only be turned back with the right key, so that people without the key cannot read it.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• least privilege · Software Engineering
• least privilege · Cybersecurity

More terms: Security and Access Control

• shared responsibility model