What Is The Principle Of Least Privilege (PoLP)?

Striking the right balance between stringent access controls and productivity is crucial. The Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) achieves this balance, ensuring the security of SaaS app data while allowing for efficient task completion. Our blog explores the definition, implementation, significance, and best practices of PoLP, providing a comprehensive understanding of its role in IT security.

Organizations increasingly rely on digital platforms and networks for their operations, which exposes them to the significant threat of unauthorized access and data breaches. In response to this challenge, the principle of least privilege (PoLP) has emerged as a critical concept.

PoLP aims to strike a balance between user functionality and the need to secure sensitive information in this evolving landscape. It advocates for limiting access rights for users, systems, and applications to the minimum necessary for their legitimate tasks. By doing so, PoLP helps minimize the potential impact of security incidents.

The adoption of PoLP represents a proactive response to the growing complexity of cybersecurity risks in today's digital age. However, this overview only scratches the surface. To delve deeper, let's explore what is Principle of Least Privilege definition.

What Is Principle Of Least Privilege?

The principle of least privilege (PoLP), or "least privilege access," is a foundational security concept. It involves granting users or employees the minimum level of access permissions necessary to fulfill their job responsibilities within an organization's SaaS apps, data, or systems.

Widely recognized as a cybersecurity strategy, least access privilege serves as a fundamental measure in safeguarding privileged access to valuable organizational assets. It extends beyond human access to encompass applications, systems, and connected devices that require specific privileges or permissions.

For example, non-human entities like service accounts may possess access permissions to execute particular IT tasks. By implementing least privilege access controls, IT administrators ensure that these non-human tools only have access to the permissions they precisely need, preventing unnecessary access.

But how does this principle operate in practice?

How Does the Principle Of Least Privilege Work?

The Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) operates by ensuring that users, applications, systems, or devices are granted only the minimum level of access permissions necessary to perform their required tasks or functions within an organization's digital environment. Here's how it works:

1. Access Evaluation: The first step involves evaluating the access needs of users, applications, or systems. This assessment considers each entity's specific roles, responsibilities, and tasks.
2. Access Assignment: Based on the evaluation, access permissions are assigned to each entity. These permissions should be limited to what is essential for performing their designated functions effectively.
3. Continuous Monitoring: PoLP requires ongoing monitoring of access permissions to ensure they remain aligned with the current needs of users, applications, and systems. Any changes or updates to access requirements should be promptly reflected in the permissions granted.
4. Access Revocation: If access permissions are no longer necessary or appropriate for a user, application, or system, they should be promptly revoked. This ensures access privileges consistently align with operational requirements and security policies.
5. Granular Control: PoLP emphasizes granular control over access permissions, allowing organizations to specify permissions at a fine-grained level. This approach minimizes the risk of unauthorized access by limiting privileges to only what is absolutely essential for each entity's function.
6. Least Privilege by Default: Ideally, organizations should adopt a "least privilege by default" approach, meaning that entities are granted minimal access permissions by default. Additional permissions are only granted on a need-to-know basis and after carefully evaluating the associated risks.

By adhering to the Principle of Least Privilege, organizations can significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access, data breaches, and insider threats, thereby enhancing overall cybersecurity posture, and safeguarding sensitive information.

Examples Of the Least Privilege Principle

Given below are some examples of how least privileges principle works practically:

• Example 1#: User Accounts With Least Privilege

Imagine an employee whose main job is to put information into a database. With the principle of least privilege, they should only be able to add new information to that database. If their computer gets infected with malware or if they accidentally click on a harmful link in an email, the damage is limited to the database itself. But if this employee has a superuser account and access (like being the "boss" of the computer), the infection could spread everywhere in the computer system.

• Example 2#: MySQL Accounts With Least Privilege

Let's say you have a database setup using MySQL and follow the principle of least privilege. For a feature that lets users sort data, you should use a MySQL account that can only do sorting. If someone tries to breach that feature, they can only mess up the sorting, not delete all the data. However, if the account can delete data, an attacker/ threat actor/unauthorized user could potentially delete the whole database.

• Example 3#: Just-in-Time Least Privilege Access

If users only need special access rights occasionally or just-in-time access, they should normally work with fewer access permissions. Furthermore, for such access, using temporary credentials makes it even safer because they are only valid for a short time, reducing the chance of unauthorized access.

• Example 4#: Privilege Creep

A junior programmer, tasked with updating lines of legacy code, usually doesn't require administrative access to the customer database. However, in certain situations where temporary projects expand their requirements, the IT team may temporarily grant higher privileges so that the programmer can carry out those tasks without any interruption.

The problem of privilege creep arises when these elevated rights are not promptly revoked and instead accumulate gradually with each temporary access request. Since IT teams manage multiple employee’s access permissions, there is a high chance to miss out on revoking access from a particular user. As a result, that particular user continues to hold privileged access, in this case, the junior programmer holds that access, and there is a high risk that he might unintentionally delete all customers' details.

When admins excessively grant access to minimize obstacles, a simple mistake like a typo or file deletion by a user can lead to severe consequences for the organization. However, by adhering to the principle of least privilege, IT admission can revoke temporary access once it's no longer necessary, thereby reducing the potential impact of such errors.

• Example 5#: Phishing Attacks

Consider this scenario, a new marketing specialist joins your organization and is given administrator access to their personal laptop for convenience. If this individual were to click on an attachment or link in a phishing email, introducing malware to their system, the potential consequences could be extensive.

However, with the principle of least privilege, the impact of the cyberattack would be confined to a limited set of resources, minimizing the risk of significant harm to an organization's sensitive data.

Now that you are familiar with what actually the least access privilege principle is and how it works. Let's proceed further and understand why it's important to enforce in your organization.

Importance Of The Least Privilege Access Policy

Individual users or entities with excessive privileges, whether they are human or automated systems (machine/ non-human tools or accounts), they have the potential to create a gap for security breaches. Without proper protection, bad actors (hackers), malware, or even unauthorized users (insider threats) from within the organization can easily misuse, exploit, or actively compromise highly sensitive data, causing much damage.

This is why implementing PoLP becomes crucial. It enables your IT team to balance user convenience and access security by ensuring users (employee(s)) have a minimal privilege of access required to operate specific tasks. At the same time, mitigating such security risks and safeguarding the organization's SaaS app data against potential cyberattacks.

Benefits Of Enforcing Least Privilege Access Policy

Below, we've listed a few of the advantages of enforcing least privilege access control:

• Minimizes the attack surface: By restricting superuser privileges, PoLP reduces the broad attack surface of an organization. This limits potential pathways for malicious actors to exploit privileged credentials, ensuring protection against unauthorized access, data breaches, and attacks. A more focused attack surface is easier to defend, making it simpler to prevent, detect, and mitigate harmful activities.
• Mitigates malware propagation: When users are granted excessive access rights, malware can exploit these elevated privileges to move laterally within your network, potentially launching attacks on other networked connected computers. So, by managing endpoints with the principle of least privilege, your team can limit users' ability to install unauthorized software, minimize the risk of malware propagation, and strengthen security posture.
• Enhances operational performance and efficiency: By properly implementing the principle of least privilege, your IT team can improve workforce (employee(s)) productivity, strengthen system stability, and increase fault tolerance. It reduces system downtime that might otherwise occur due to security breaches, malware propagation, or application compatibility issues.
• Simplifies the process of preparing for an audit: Besides meeting common compliance regulation requirements, adhering to the principle of least privilege policy helps organizations prepare for audits by establishing and maintaining internal company policies. Further, by providing an audit trail of privileged activities within the network as evidence, you can show auditors or regulatory authorities that all access policies, practices, and security regulations are met without fail.
• Guards against the errors: Even well-intentioned users might accidentally execute incorrect commands or delete critical information. So, by enforcing the least privilege access control model, your IT team reduces potential damage and errors by restricting the scope of such actions.

Now that you are familiar with the basic concept of least privilege, let’s proceed further and understand what violates the PoLP, so that you can avoid doing it.

Practices That Violates The Principle Of Least Privilege

Here are the practices that violate the rule of least privilege:

• Granting Excessive Access Permissions: Giving users more access than they need for their specific tasks increases the risk of unauthorized activity and violates the PoLP.
• Providing Unrestricted Administrative Privileges: Providing admin rights or superuser access to users opens the door to potential misuse or accidental harm to systems and data.
• Failing To Revoke Access: Neglecting to remove access when it's no longer needed allows for prolonged exposure to potential security threats and violates the PoLP access policy.
• Allowing To Accumulate Access Over Time: When IT teams let users hold excessive permission rights as they change roles without verification, it can lead to unnecessary privileges.
• Doesn't Conduct Regular Access Reviews: Not periodically reviewing and adjusting user root access rights can result in outdated and unnecessary permissions. This practice violates the principle of least privilege.
• Overlooking Just-in-Time Access: Failing to implement just-in-time access means permissions may not be dynamically adjusted based on current needs.
• Insufficient Training and Awareness: Users and administrators need to be aware of the importance of PoLP to avoid unintentional breaches.
• Non-compliance with Regulations: Violating industry or legal regulations regarding data protection and access controls can lead to legal consequences and fines.

Now, let's understand what challenges hinder the implementation of the principle of least privilege.

Factors That Hinder Implementation Of The Principle Of Least Privilege

Although the idea of managing least-privileged access seems simple, the execution can be challenging. Various factors, including employee expectations and the intricate nature of computing environments, can impede the effective implementation of least-privileged access management. So let's go through these challenges one by one:

Factor 1# Employee Dissatisfaction

When IT teams attempt to limit access, it causes friction for users, and creates frustration among them, particularly in DevOps environments that prioritize speed and automation. Network admins in larger organizations might opt for the path of least resistance to avoid administrative challenges. Also, individuals in smaller organizations, where team members are familiar and trusted, may perceive themselves as less susceptible to threats.

In such environments it's difficult to encourage the IT teams to implement the principle of least access privilege as such restrictions may lead to employee frustration and prompt questions about the level of trust the IT teams place in their staff.

Factor 2# Widespread Use Of Cloud Services

The widespread adoption of cloud technology introduces challenges related to over-provisioning, account sharing, and insufficient segmentation. IT managers often anticipate that cloud services, such as AWS IAM, will automatically enforce robust security measures. Although cloud-based tools offer advancements in securing least privileged user accounts compared to manual methods, effective implementation of the principle of least privilege necessitates a strategic approach rather than relying solely on a product. This holds particularly true in multi-cloud network environments.

Factor 3# Diverse Networks

Today's computing setups are diverse, featuring valuable assets scattered across on-premises, virtual, and cloud platforms, diverse operating systems, numerous applications, endpoints, and both human and machine identities. With the rise of multi-cloud computing, managing access for both human and machine accounts across different platforms becomes essential for a cloud least privilege manager. This introduces a new challenge in implementing the principle of least access, as tools effective in one environment may not be compatible with another.

Factor 4# Insufficient Precision

Default settings in operating systems like UNIX, Linux, and Windows don't inherently adhere to the principle of least privilege. The UNIX operating system, for instance, doesn't impose access controls on the user root, allowing them significant powers like terminating processes and manipulating files. Similarly, the administrator account on Windows possesses the same power. This operating system makes it challenging to implement PoLP.

Factor 5# Default Credentials

Operating systems often come with default settings that prioritize convenience over security. If these defaults, including usernames and passwords, are not changed, they provide easy access points for unauthorized users. This expands the potential attack surface and compromises the implementation of PoLP. Additionally, default credentials in continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) tools and misconfigurations can further increase the risk, potentially allowing broader access than required and making it harder to enforce the principle of least privilege.

All the above factors influence the decision to enforce the PoLP. Ultimately, whether to implement PoLP depends on each organization's priorities and specific circumstances. However, if you are considering implementing PoLP across your organization, here’s a guide on how to proceed.

5 Best Practices To Implement Least Privilege Access Control Policy

To effectively implement the principle of least privilege policy, your IT team needs to centrally manage and safeguard privileged accounts and their credentials for both non-humans (service accounts) and users. However, your IT team also needs to include applications, devices (like IoT devices), processes, and services in the least privileged access management process, as neglecting any unattended accounts within these categories can pose a security risk.

Furthermore, you must opt for an identity and access management platform enabling your team to authorize and authenticate privileged system access to streamline the process. And once the least access principle policy is implemented, your team needs to thoroughly conduct regular audits of privileged access, enforce time-limited access practices, and effectively monitor the access environment to protect sensitive SaaS app data.

To ensure this policy is effectively enforced, we've compiled a list of best practices that your IT team can  follow:

1. Conduct A Thorough Privilege Audit

As we know, visibility is critical in an access environment, so conducting regular or periodic access audits of all privileged accounts can help your team gain complete visibility. This audit includes reviewing privileged accounts and credentials held by employees, contractors, and third-party vendors, whether on-premises, accessible remotely, or in the cloud. However, your team must also focus on default and hard-coded credentials, which IT teams often overlook.

2. Establish The Least Privilege As Default

Start by granting new accounts the minimum privileges required for their tasks and eliminate or reconfigure default permissions on new systems or applications. Further, use role-based access control to help your team determine the necessary privileges for a new account by providing general guidelines based on roles and responsibilities. Also, your team needs to update and adjust access level permissions when the user's role changes; this will help prevent privilege creep.

3. Enforce Separation Of Privilege

Your team can prevent over-provisioning by limiting local administrator privileges. Firstly, segregate administrative accounts from standard accounts, even if they belong to the same user, and isolate privileged user sessions. Then, grant administrative privileges (such as read, write, and execute permissions) only to the extent necessary for the user to perform their specific administrative tasks. This will help your team prevent granting users unnecessary or excessive control over critical systems, which could lead to security vulnerabilities or misconfigurations.

4. Provide Just-In-Time Limited Access

To maintain least-privilege access without hindering employee workflows, combine role-based access control with time-limited privileges. Further, replace hard-coded credentials with dynamic secrets or use temporary/one-time-use credentials. This will help your team grant temporary elevated permissions or just-in-time access when users need it, for instance, to complete specific tasks or short-term projects.

5. Keep Track And Evaluate Privileged Access

Continuously monitor authentications and authorizations across your networked systems and ensure all individual actions are traceable. Additionally, record all keystrokes and monitor RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) and SSH (Secure Shell) sessions comprehensively, and use automated tools to swiftly identify any unusual activity or potential issues.  

These best practices are designed to enhance the security of your privileged accounts, data, and assets while ensuring compliance adherence and improving operational security without disrupting user workflows.

Now that you clearly understand the least privileged access control, why not opt for an efficient access management platform like Zluri to streamline the enforcement of PoLP? But why Zluri? How does it ensure effective PoLP implementation? Here's a quick read-through.

Streamline Least Privilege Implementation With The Right Solution

In an era where data breaches and cyber threats are rising, enforcing the principle of least privilege has become pivotal to safeguarding your organization's critical assets like SaaS apps, data, and systems. This is why choosing the right solution for implementing robust security policies is imperative to mitigate the risk of unauthorized access and potential security breaches. A standout solution that aligns seamlessly with these requirements is Zluri’s access management, making it an ideal fit for your organization's security needs.

With Zluri's access management, your team can effectively implement this fundamental security principle, ensuring that users and systems access only what they absolutely need. Here's how it does that:

Zluri's access management provides complete visibility into user access permissions. This comprehensive view helps determine who has access to which application, data, and system, what level of permissions they hold, and whether their access rights align with their designated role or not. Once these details are verified, IT admins can further enforce the principle of least privilege to ensure the users hold limited access to the organization’s resources and nothing beyond.

To quickly ensure the effective implementation of the access control policy, Zluri’s access management helps your IT team conduct access reviews on a periodic basis. So, if during the review any misalignment of access permissions and violation of PoLP is detected, reviewers can run deprovisioning playbooks or modify access playbooks. This way, your team can revoke access permissions that are not required for employees' roles or modify the access.

Furthermore, Zluri's access management also documents the entire review process and generates audit logs and reports to show evidence that your IT team has implemented the least privilege access control policy effectively without fail. This helps meet stringent compliance requirements like SOX, in which adhering to the principle of least privilege access control is one of the security requirements.

To know more about Zluri’s access management, book a demo now.