Least privilege: the access the job needs, and none it does not

Give a person exactly the access their work needs and nothing more, through the group for their role rather than by hand. A user who is not an administrator cannot install the thing that would have wiped their machine; a user without the sales share cannot leak it, by accident or otherwise.

Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.

What it is for

A new starter in accounts is made a local administrator 'to save tickets'. In week two they install a free PDF tool from a search result. It was not a PDF tool. The machine, and then the accounts share the account could reach, is encrypted by Friday. The saved tickets cost a week. Least privilege is the reason the fire stops at one desk.

How to think about it

Take the request from the manager, not the user, and take it in terms of the job: 'accounts clerk' rather than 'the same as Sam'. Add the account to the role's group, so the access is one line that can be reviewed and removed. No local administrator unless the job needs it, and then with a second, separate admin account that is not used for email. Test one thing they need, and one they should not have.

Worked example

Request from the accounts manager: new clerk, starts Monday, role: accounts clerk

From the manager, in job terms. The desk does not decide who gets what; the role does.

Add to group Accounts-Users → the accounts share, the finance app, the printer on floor 2

One group, one line. Everything the role needs comes with it, and nothing else does.

Local administrator: no. Sales share: no

Two things the job does not need. Each one is a door not opened.

Test: opens the accounts share; sales share refused

One yes and one no, both verified. The no is as important as the yes.

Your turn

The new starter needs the accounts share. Write what they are given instead of local administrator.

Give the role , not local administrator

The trap

Copying an existing user's access because it is quick. Sam has eight years of access nobody ever removed. The new starter now has all of it, and nobody will ever know what half of it is for.

Practise least privilege on HoneA question on it now, a coding challenge where there is one, and it is remembered for review. Free, no email needed.