Principle of Least Privilege Explained

What is the principle of least privilege?

The principle of least privilege (POLP) is a concept in IT security in which a user is provided the bare minimum privileges required to carry out their activities. To explain it better, under POLP, a software developer who does not require administrative privileges or access to financial data will never be given such privileges.

What are some ways to implement the POLP in your systems?

  • Start off on the right foot with employee onboarding; the new hires should always be granted the least privileges required for their role.
  • Periodically review the privileges of accounts to check if they only have the necessary access rights and nothing more.
  • Grant access rights with expiration dates whenever possible.
  • Monitor the behavior of your privileged users to spot signs of privilege abuse or insider threats.

How employing a least privilege model can protect you from cyber threats

  • A least privilege model helps organizations periodically take stock of the data stored in the network and who has access to it. In case an end user has excess privileges, these can be quickly revoked.
  • In case of an attack, the least privilege model helps limit the attack surface, giving the IT team an opportunity to detect, isolate, and remediate the attack.
  • Enforcing least privilege helps create a more audit-friendly environment. Moreover, many compliance regulations require that organizations apply least privilege access policies to strengthen security.
  • The POLP prevents malicious insiders from accessing sensitive data.

How ADManager Plus can help you achieve a least privilege model

  • A place for everything and everything in its place: In ADManager Plus, the user onboarding experience can be heightened with templates. Based on a particular role or designation, necessary attributes like group memberships, file server permissions, reporting manager, and more can be auto-filled. Having a standardized framework will ensure that administrators do not grant unnecessary permissions to new hires.
  • Periodic review and administration of appropriate access policies: ADManager Plus offers pre-built reports, which help administrators efficiently view and manage both new and inherited access permissions to file shares. To prevent privilege creep, the tool also helps administrators granularly assign permissions for individual files and folders in bulk. Here’s how you can manage and access file server permissions using the tool.
  • Time-bound access permissions: When users join the organization, IT admins grant them permissions to access resources relevant to their job function. Over time, users might be granted additional permissions for different tasks, and their access rights might not get revoked after the task is completed. ADManager Plus offers an automated time-bound permissions management feature, which allows IT admins to temporarily assign users to specific groups or grant file server permissions.
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