Least Privilege

Reasoning

• Maintains that a user or entity should only have accessibility to the specific directory, data, resource, and applications in order to accomplish a certain task.

Example

Scenario: A software development company called Contoso.com is working on a new cloud-based product. The team consists of developers, testers, project managers, and IT administrators. The company uses Microsoft 365 Admin, GitHub for version control, and AWS for cloud infrastructure.

Implementation of Least Privilege:

1. Developers:

   • Access Granted:
     • Source Code Repository (GitHub): Developers are granted access only to the repositories they are actively working on.
     • Staging Environment (AWS): Developers are given the ability to deploy code to the staging environment but not the production environment.
     • Bug Tracking Tool (e.g., Jira): They have read/write access to their assigned tasks and related tickets but cannot access sensitive project or budgetary information.
   • Access Denied:
     • Production Environment: Developers cannot access the production servers to prevent unauthorized changes or accidental disruptions.
     • Financial Data: They do not have access to financial systems, such as invoices, customer payment information, or budget allocations.

2. Testers:

   • Access Granted:
     • Testing Environment: Testers can access the QA environment where they run tests but are restricted from the development and production environments.
     • Test Data: Testers are provided access to synthetic data for their tests, ensuring they do not handle sensitive customer data.
   • Access Denied:
     • Source Code Repositories: Testers are given read-only access to code so they can view commits, but they cannot modify or push changes to the repositories.
     • Production Environment: Testers are denied access to the live production environment.

3. Project Managers:

   • Access Granted:
     • Project Management Tools (e.g., Jira/Asana): Project managers can view and manage the development timeline, tasks, and resource allocation.
     • High-Level Reports: They have access to high-level product reports and analytics related to progress but not detailed source code.
   • Access Denied:
     • Source Code Repository: Project managers have no direct access to the GitHub repository as they are not involved in development.
     • Production Environment: They are not permitted to access AWS production resources.

4. IT Administrators:

   • Access Granted:
     • Full Access to Production Environment (AWS): IT administrators need full privileges to manage infrastructure and deploy final builds.
     • Access Control Tools (Microsoft 365 Admin): They control who has access to various systems and enforce security policies, including managing user roles.
   • Access Denied:
     • Source Code Repositories: IT admins are not involved in development and, therefore, do not require write access to GitHub repositories.
     • Product Analytics and Customer Data: Unless necessary, IT admins are restricted from accessing business analytics or sensitive customer information.

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Key Benefits of Applying Least Privilege:

• Minimized Risk: By ensuring that each employee only has access to the resources they need, the risk of accidental or malicious data breaches is reduced. For instance, if a developer’s credentials are compromised, the attacker won’t gain access to sensitive customer data or production systems.

• Enhanced Accountability: If an issue arises in the production environment, it’s easier to trace which privileged user made a change because only authorized IT administrators have access.

• Improved Security Posture: Least privilege helps mitigate insider threats, as employees cannot access data outside their scope of work. For example, testers working with synthetic data minimize the chance of sensitive data exposure during tests.