Least Privilege Principle¶

Every program and user should operate with the minimum set of privileges necessary to complete their task, limiting blast radius when compromises occur.

Tension Addressed¶

Convenience vs. Safety

Recognizable As¶

Role-based access control; scoped API tokens; container isolation; database user accounts per application; time-limited credentials; read-only access defaults. Any permission model that requires explicit grants rather than implicit access.

Canonical Sources¶

Saltzer & Schroeder, "The Protection of Information in Computer Systems" (1975)

Transfers To¶

Organizational management (need-to-know basis), financial controls (spending limits), API design (scoped tokens), microservices (bounded contexts)

Least privilege is a damage containment strategy. When (not if) a component is compromised, limited privileges limit what an attacker can do.