Least Privilege

Minimal Attack Surface

Least Privilege is the fundamental security principle of granting users and systems only the minimum level of access required to perform a specific task, for the minimum duration necessary. In a Zero Trust environment, “Standing Privileges”—permissions that users hold 24/7 regardless of their current activity—are considered a massive liability. By implementing Least Privilege, you transition from broad, persistent access to a model of “Just-In-Time” (JIT) elevation, drastically reducing the impact of a compromised account.

LEAST PRIV

Access Minimization

Core Mission

Elimination of Standing Risk. Ensuring that no single identity possesses the power to compromise the entire system by default, requiring explicit proof of need for every high-stakes action.

Like a Surgeon's Instrument: A surgeon doesn't carry a scalpel while they are in the hospital cafeteria. They only receive the scalpel at the moment of surgery, in a sterile environment, after their identity and the patient's record have been verified. Once the procedure is finished, they return the tool. They have "Just-In-Time" access to the instrument they need, and no more.

Root/Admin Protection / Production Systems / Compliance

Beyond Static Permissions

Modern Least Privilege moves beyond once-a-year audits to real-time, context-aware access control.

Strategic Privilege Matrix

Model	Mechanism	Duration	Strategic Risk
Static	Permanent RBAC Role.	Forever.	Maximum (Lateral movement)
Temporal	Role with an expiration date.	Defined window.	Medium
JIT (Just-In-Time)	Role granted via a request flow.	Activity-based.	Low
JEA (Just-Enough)	Dynamic, granular permissions.	Minimum scope.	Lowest

The JIT Elevation Flow

The hallmark of a mature Least Privilege architecture is the ability to provision elevated access on-demand without manual administrator intervention for every request.

1

Request (Intent)

A user requests elevated access for a specific resource, providing a ticket number (e.g., Jira/ServiceNow) or business justification.

2

Validate & Elevate

The system verifies the request against policy (e.g., "Is the user on call?") and grants the role temporarily (e.g., for 2 hours) in the directory.

3

Auto-Expire

Once the window closes, the system automatically strips the permission and terminates any active sessions, returning the user to their "Base Role."

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Technical Least Privilege Guides

Master the implementation of zero-standing-privilege architectures.

PAM Strategies

Implementing Privileged Access Management for infrastructure and root accounts.

Entitlement Auditing

Using automated reviews to discover and prune unused "Zombie" permissions.

Fine-Grained Scopes

Designing system-to-system access with the absolute minimum bound of authority.

Separation of Duties

Preventing single-user control over critical end-to-end business processes.

Next Steps

• Explore Zero Trust Frameworks for the broader security context.
• Review Identity Governance for long-term permission management.
• Check Break-Glass Procedures for emergency high-privilege access.