What Is Least Privilege and How Do You Use It?

What Is Least Privilege and How Do You Use It? 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A data breach is the last thing your business needs. But even with passwords and multi-factor authentication, a cyberattack is always possible.

Recovering from a security compromise, such as a ransomware attack, can cost precious time and money — not to mention a loss of trust in your brand. This is why it is essential that businesses take proactive steps to mitigate the risk of a breach as much as possible.

One of the most important components of account security is privilege assignment.

Privileged accounts, such as superuser accounts, protect sensitive information. They use role-based authentication, authorizations, as well as other parameters that specify the data a specific user is allowed to access.

The aim of privilege delegation is to restrict them to authorized activity only — ensuring that both user and machine identities can only access the data they need. This helps avoid insider threats, minimizes the fallout of password compromise, and ultimately protects critical system resources.

But even a sophisticated privileged access system isn’t entirely immune to cyber attacks. To optimize and maximize account security, a Zero Trust security architecture — in which the principle of least privilege plays a key role — is recommended.

Least privilege offers a variety of benefits for IT security. It adds an additional layer of defense against insider threats, hackers, and other cyberattacks. Let’s take a look at what least privilege entails and why the concept of least privilege is so important in Zero Trust security.

Contents

What Does the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) Mean in IT?
How Do You Use Least Privilege?
Best Practices for Implementing the Least Privilege Principle
What Are the Benefits of Least Privilege?
Least Privilege and Zero Trust
Least Privilege with SSH's Zero Trust Solutions

 

What Does the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) Mean in IT? Before we can address the importance of implementing least privilege, it’s important to define least privilege in the context of the modern cybersecurity landscape.

In theory, least privilege refers to minimum access for each user — with no user, especially those with non-privileged accounts, able to access data that is not necessary to perform their job. In practice, it’s rarely possible to implement least privilege perfectly. Users in the real world and any other entity accessing the network will need to navigate IT systems quickly, without the need for authentication at every step.

Even programs can abide by the concept of least privilege. When applications need access to sensitive information, least privilege can help ensure each tool only has access to the data it needs to operate. Zero Trust architecture aims to get as close as possible to least privilege, by using protocols such as multifactor authentication, ephemeral access certificates, and IP address verification to protect privileged information. 

The principle of least privilege (PoLP) is a central component of privileged access management (PAM), and is considered a best practice for modern cybersecurity. In today’s IT environment, it is possible to implement the principles of least privilege with streamlined safeguards that can optimize privileged access while maintaining a fast and easy user experience.

How Do You Use Least Privilege? The traditional approach to cybersecurity is perimeter-based — meaning users can access information once they have proven their credentials. Least-privileged access avoids the pitfalls of perimeter security by creating privilege tiers that are highly specific to each user.

To properly manage an organization using the principle of least privilege, your organization needs a dynamic approach to privileged access management. Instead of setting one-time credentials, effective least privilege management involves granting new privileges to employees as they progress through their tasks.

Even though least privilege enforcement is a more effective alternative to perimeter security, a potential concern in least privilege is known as “privilege creep” — the idea that, once privileges are granted, they are not revoked.

With privilege creep, even highly granular PAM solutions can leave doors open to potential cyberattacks. Addressing privilege creep is necessary for an effective Zero Trust approach, by using ephemeral access credentials to minimize insider threats.

Best Practices for Implementing the Least Privilege Principle For effective use of the principle of least privilege, there are certain steps every IT team should take. The best practices for implementing the least privilege principle effectively include: 

Monitor continuously. By constantly monitoring your privileged account access, you can identify which users have unnecessary or inappropriate access to passwords and keys. Regular surveillance allows you to prevent privilege creep and identify the source of potential threats. Remember to monitor permissions for cloud-based applications, not just your on-premises data. 

Set up alerts. In addition to auditing consistently, an alert system can help you detect unusual activity before a major data breach occurs. 

Establish administrative accounts. When you separate administrative accounts from standard user accounts, you can help to ensure that privileged users aren’t able to access administrative capabilities unless it’s absolutely necessary.  

Rotate passwords regularly. By rotating passwords and keys, you can avoid the risk of cyberattackers gaining access to privileged account credentials. 

Set just-in-time (JIT) privileges. JIT privileges are a central component of least privilege, offering a specific timeframe for the use of access on an as-needed basis. This access is based on ephemeral certificates to ensure that the credentials needed for the connections are created just-in-time and disappear immediately after use. The users never see or handle the credentials nor are the any credentials left to manage .When you replace standing passwords with JIT access, you can ensure data is only available to the right user at the right time.

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What Are the Benefits of Least Privilege? In today’s cybersecurity environment, privileged accounts are one of the most common sources of security compromise. By ensuring users can only access the data they need when they need it, IT administrators can effectively minimize the surface area of a cyberattack.

Insider threats from privileged users aren’t the only threat that’s thwarted by implementing the least privilege access principle. In the case of malware, unwanted requests are unable to move through the system because of limited lateral access. With automated least privilege monitoring, you can identify malware attacks before they are able to access sensitive information. 

Least privilege isn’t just a way to protect yourself from attackers — it’s a great way to streamline security audits, too. Professionals in medicine, finance, education, cybersecurity, and other industries need a well-documented cybersecurity system to ensure compliance with industry audits. When you implement the principles of least privilege, you can provide evidence that your access controls are sufficiently secure.

Least Privilege and Zero Trust Zero Trust is the gold standard of cybersecurity today.

Guided by the “never trust, always verify” principle, Zero Trust offers an approach to security that treats any users, applications, and devices as if they were potentially compromised. In contrast with perimeter security, which trusts devices that have made it past a security threshold, Zero Trust requires constant vigilance and verification over time as users move laterally through the system.

With Zero Trust, IT admins can quickly revoke access to any device that is potentially compromised. The concept of least privilege is central to the Zero Trust model, since least privilege requires continuous authentication over time, as each user moves through the various levels of access. Without the principles of least privilege, Zero Trust architecture wouldn’t be possible.

Least Privilege with Zero Trust Solutions by SSH Communications Security SSH Communications Security (SSH) offers several Zero Trust solutions designed to help you implement the least privilege principle. PrivX Zero Trust is a scalable, cost-efficient, and highly automated PAM solution for hybrid and multi-cloud environments, quantum-safe connections and any combination of password vaulting, rotation, and passwordless authentication. 

For credential management founded on the principles of least privilege, UKM Zero Trust is ideal. UKM automates the governance of SSH keys according to compliance and security standards and minimizes key management complexity. And for a comprehensive Zero Trust package, Tectia Zero Trust protects and tracks all your interactive and machine-to-machine connections. It eliminates your static credentials, provides secure role-based access, and records full access logs.

All our Zero Trust solutions not only support you in implementing and maintaining the least privilege principle, but also give you the opportunity to migrate to a completely passwordless and keyless environment at your own pace — all while maintaining your existing credentials until the transition is complete. 

Our team at SSH is here to help you find the most effective solution for your security needs, while maintaining a user-friendly system. The principle of least privilege shouldn’t be hard to implement — and with SSH, it isn’t. Get in touch to find out more about our solutions.

FAQ How can least privilege help in data protection against external hackers and insider privilege misuse? Least privilege limits access to only what is necessary for users to perform their jobs, reducing the attack surface for external hackers and minimizing opportunities for insider privilege misuse. By restricting access rights, potential damage from compromised accounts is contained, enhancing overall data protection.

What are privileged accounts and how do they relate to privileged threat vectors? Privileged accounts have elevated permissions that allow users to perform critical system functions. These accounts are prime targets for attackers and misuse, making them significant privileged threat vectors. Proper management and monitoring of these accounts are crucial to prevent unauthorized access and potential security breaches.

How did the Target breach highlight the importance of least privilege in operational technology and internet of things? The Target breach exploited weak points in the company’s HVAC system, an example of operational technology, to gain access to the broader network. This incident underscored the need for least privilege policies to limit access rights and compartmentalize systems, particularly in the interconnected realms of operational technology and the Internet of Things (IoT).

How are edge computing and robotic process automation vulnerable to privileged access exploits? Edge computing and robotic process automation (RPA) often involve numerous distributed systems and automated processes, which can be difficult to secure. Privileged access exploits in these environments can lead to unauthorized control over critical operations. Ensuring least privilege access helps mitigate these vulnerabilities by restricting permissions to only those necessary for specific tasks.

How does least privilege integration in devops environments address the lack of visibility and mitigate cultural challenges? Integrating least privilege in DevOps ensures that only necessary access rights are granted, improving security without hindering productivity. This approach addresses the lack of visibility by making it easier to track and audit access permissions. Additionally, it helps mitigate cultural challenges by fostering a security-first mindset within development and operations teams.

SSH is a leading defensive cybersecurity company that secures communications between humans, systems, and networks. We specialize in Zero Trust Privileged Access Controls and Quantum Safe Network Security. Our customers include a diverse range of enterprises, from multiple Fortune 500 companies to SMBs across various sectors such as Finance, Retail, Technology, Industrial, Healthcare, and Government. 25% of Fortune 100 companies rely on SSH’s solutions. Recent strategic focus has expanded SSH business to Defence, Critical Infrastructure Operators, Manufacturing OT Security and Public Safety.

Leonardo S.p.A invests 20.0 million EUR in SSH, becoming the largest shareholder of the company. SSH solutions form a Center of Excellence for Zero Trust privileged access management and quantum-safe network encryption in Leonardo - a global industrial group that creates multi-domain technological capabilities in the Aerospace, Defence and Security sector with 17.8 billion EUR revenue in 2024. SSH company’s shares (SSH1V) are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.

 

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