The Principle of Least Privilege Explained: How PoLP Secures Your Business

As many in cybersecurity already know, policy adherence is one of the major linchpins of a successful cybersecurity program. Not only do policies provide clear, documented guidelines for how organizations should handle various aspects of cybersecurity, they create a standardized approach to security across the organization, ensure regulatory compliance, and establish accountability within a program. One of the most crucial policy areas for cyber efforts is that of access control. The purpose of a program’s Access Control Policy is to control what users have access to which systems, and how those users are being granted that access. Several key components exist under the access control umbrella, including the topic of today’s discussion: Principle of Least Privilege.

So, what is the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) and why is it important? Let’s get into it.

Simply put: The Principle of Least Privilege, also known as the least privilege policy or minimum access policy, refers to the practice of granting users, accounts, and applications only the access that is needed for them to do the tasks their role requires – and not an ounce more. 

But, don’t think for one moment that it exists just for formality’s sake. Organizations that enforce the Principle of Least Privilege have a notably more secure environment. In fact, according to Verizon's 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report, 68% of breaches involved "a non-malicious human element, like a person falling victim to a social engineering attack or making an error." Taking this into account, ensuring that each user is limited in what they have access to and, by extension, what the attacker has access to, you can truly start to appreciate the importance of this approach. 

Now that we have covered the basics, it’s time to dig a bit deeper into what positive impacts PoLP has on an organization.

The 3 Main Benefits of Enforcing the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP):

1. Attack Surface Reduction: Organizations inherently reduce the attack surface area (the number of accounts or permissions to attack) and increase the ability to contain it when they set strict birthright access and limit any access beyond that. 
   
   
2. Insider Threat Impact Control: As emphasized by the aforementioned report, when an organization limits access to only what is necessary for someone to do their job, you reduce what an insider could potentially compromise.
   
   
3. System Stability Improvement: When less users have access to change system settings, it means there is a lower chance of accidental misconfigurations or system slip-ups.

What Are Some Real-World Applications of the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP)?

Here are a few everyday examples of PoLP in action:

1. Your HR manager might only need to be granted access to the data in the HR and payroll applications. On the flip side, your IT manager might need access to those same applications, but not access the employee payroll data or personal information.
   
   
2. A social media marketing contractor needs permissions for only the applications relevant to their contract while a full-time marketing manager might need access to a wider range of marketing applications, your company CRM, and an asset sharing platform such as Box or Google Drive. 
   
   
3. The nurse at your local hospital might have access to patient records for their assigned patients, but not to the entire hospital's patient database. And, hospital administrative staff will often be able to access billing information, but their access won't extend to viewing patient medical records.

As you can see, the Principle of Least Privilege is not only important from a corporate angle, but is actually used by businesses of all sizes to reduce risk. (As a note: many organizations use Role-Based Access Controls to manage the access in their environments, which can function as an access-granting cheat sheet.) 

Now that we have covered the benefits of employing this policy, it’s time to get into…

The 4 Biggest Dangers of Not Implementing the Principle of Least Privilege

It’s all well and good that the PoLP has so many positive impacts, but what happens when an organization fails to enforce it? Easy, their organization goes out of business. Just kidding. Well, sort of. You see, the thing about overlooking or neglecting policies like PoLP is that the negative impacts snowball over time. And, more often than not, you don’t see the impacts until something has gone wrong. 

Here are some of the highest concern items organizations without PoLP enforcement need to keep an eye on:

1. Access Creep: In the absence of proper controls, users may slowly accumulate unnecessary permissions over time, a phenomenon known as "access creep." This often happens as IT environments get increasingly complex (such as incorporating multiple domains or when federated  access privileges come into effect). This gradual accumulation of privileges can lead to vastly over-privileged accounts, expanding your attack surface and granting hackers the keys to the kingdom when they gain access to a user account.
   
   
2. More Severe Data Breaches: If knowing your users can get into systems they shouldn't be able to access doesn't make you uncomfortable, the idea of cybercriminals getting access to those over-privileged accounts will. Just imagine: A hacker gets access to your marketing manager's account, but can now somehow access your accounting or HR data. 
   
   
3. Compliance Violations: For organizations that have to adhere to regulatory standards (Think: GDPR, SOX, HIPAA, etc.), each of them includes organizational access requirements. Failure to comply with the regulations they set in place can result in hefty fines and legal repercussions.
   
   
4. Insider Threats: Without a minimum access policy in place, disgruntled employees,  third-party vendors, contractors, or other insider threats can cause significant damage as a result of their extensive access rights.

TL;DR: If you don't employ the Policy of Least Privilege, and you get found out, you're probably not in for a good time. But, if this is the case, why are there still some organizations that avoid it? Well, because it isn't always easy to do so.

What Challenges Are There for Organizations Looking to Implement PoLP?

There's no denying that the benefits that come with implementing the Principle of Least Privilege far outweigh the risks of avoiding it. However, there are some notable obstacles that can prove burdensome for organizations looking to do so.

For starters, the initial setup and configuration can be a huge undertaking for IT/IS teams. This is because they have to go through every role within their organization and determine  the minimum necessary privileges for each role. This is both a daunting and time-consuming experience that many aren't keen on jumping into.

Additionally, increased security also comes with less convenience for your users. Where your marketing manager used to be able to get into your HR system to know who to do a shoutout for on social media, they now have to go through HR to get that information. These added limitations can be a headache for leadership and a major cause of frustration for teams across the board. 

The last hurdle is the gift that keeps giving: The continuous management PoLP requires. This is because as an organization grows and evolves, the roles and responsibilities within it must adapt with it. So, not only do teams have to overcome the initial lift, but they now have a whole new set of tasks on their to-do lists for maintenance.

How Clarity Helps

The Principle of Least Privilege is more than a security best practice; it's an essential strategy that protects information and systems by default. And, Clarity’s simple IGA platform is built to make both the initial implementation lift as well as the ongoing management easier than ever. 

With 10 Minute Access Reviews and the Clarity Identity Explorer, our solution helps teams quickly assess the existing access within their environment and remediate over-provisioned users while our hierarchical Nested Entitlements enable teams to understand how access is being granted across even the most complex environments including, but not limited to: Federated access, access granted through Foreign Security Principals, and user access in Multi-Domain environments.

Additionally, Clarity’s Automated RBAC and Custom Workflows, come with several key benefits for policy enforcement. 1. When implemented, the solution systematically discovers permissions that 100% of users have, making identifying least privilege access a cinch, 2. Clarity’s automations take the bulk of the maintenance struggle off of IT/IS teams, allowing them to focus on all of their other department initiatives, and 3. Clarity’s Role-Based Access Requests help your team ensure that any extra access being granted is appropriate.

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