Without regular reviews, nearly every user account risks accruing excess privileges. Some user accounts maintain the same access throughout their entire lifecycle, though most will see changes.
Least privilege access manual#
This remains true whether manual efforts or automating solutions carry out the creation and provisioning process. User accounts require access rights and permissions at their creation, which are typically based off of group memberships. Service accounts are special user accounts assigned to applications or services that operate in the background of your IT environment. The dangers of access accumulation extend beyond employees, however, with service accounts. These information security vulnerabilities most often coincide with promotions, role changes, reassignments, or comprehensive reorganizations. This gradual accumulation is colloquially referred to as “privilege creep”, “access creep”, or “permission bloat”. The “user account lifecycle” defines the collective management stages for every user account over time-creation, review/update, and deactivation (CRUD).
Least privilege is critical for preventing the continual collection of unchecked access rights over a user account’s lifecycle. An employee can’t complete their job without the minimum access requirements, yet too much creates compliance and security risks. Least privilege relies on the understanding that pragmatic access straddles a balance. POLP is a fundamental concept within identity and access management (IAM). The “Principle of Least Privilege” (POLP) states a given user account should have the exact access rights necessary to execute their role’s responsibilities-no more, no less.
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