Least Privilege

Definitions

1. Least Privilege is the access-control principle that grants only the minimum permissions needed to perform an approved task. Security teams use it to enforce trust, reduce exposure, improve detection, or standardize secure operations in production environments. Its value depends on correct configuration, lifecycle management, and surrounding controls, because weak defaults, poor integration, or missing visibility can create gaps that attackers exploit.

   In plain English: Least Privilege is a security concept or control that helps organizations protect systems, manage trust, and notice suspicious behavior before damage spreads.

   Example: "After the review, the security team rolled out Least Privilege in the affected environment, documented the operating procedure, and verified through logs and test cases that the control reduced exposure without breaking normal administrative or user workflows."

Related Terms

• Privilege Escalation
• Access Control List
• Fail-Safe Default
• Mandatory Access Control
• Role-Based Access Control
• Role
• Overprivileged
• Permission Model