Least privilege
Least privilege is the principle of granting a person, application, or process only the permissions and resources needed to perform its assigned tasks.
Fit access to the task
Least privilege starts with the work someone or something needs to do. A person, application, or process gets the permissions needed for that work, without unrelated authority.
Microsoft’s Entra guidance breaks administrative access into three useful questions:
- What actions? Choose permissions for the actual task.
- Which resources? Limit the scope instead of granting access everywhere.
- For how long? Use time-limited access when permanent access is unnecessary.
A narrowly scoped role held indefinitely can still outlast the job that justified it. Review access when responsibilities change, including assignments inherited through groups.
Less access still has to let the work happen
Removing permissions without checking the workflow can leave staff dependent on exceptions or shared administrator accounts. After a change, test that the intended work succeeds and that an agreed out-of-scope action is denied.
Authorization is the decision to allow an action. Least privilege is a principle for designing those permissions. It limits what a compromised account can do; it does not decide whether a request made to that account is legitimate.