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Principle of Least Privilege

intermediate
security
Enhanced Content

Definition

Security concept where users and systems are given only the minimum access needed to perform their tasks. Like giving employees keys only to the rooms they need to do their jobs.

Real-World Example

A Lambda function that reads from S3 is given only s3:GetObject permission on the specific bucket it needs, not admin access to all AWS resources.

Related Terms

Cloud Provider Equivalencies

All four clouds enforce least privilege primarily through their IAM systems: you grant identities (users, groups, roles, service accounts) only the specific permissions needed, scoped to the smallest practical set of resources.

AWS
AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)
AZ
Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) + Azure role-based access control (Azure RBAC)
GCP
Cloud Identity and Access Management (Cloud IAM)
OCI
OCI Identity and Access Management (OCI IAM)

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