Chapter 9 of 10All chapters
Chapter 9 of 10
Access and least privilege
Limiting the damage of one bad day.
The principle
Every account gets only the access its job requires, and no more. When one account is compromised, that boundary decides whether the attacker gets one mailbox or the whole system.
- Do not use an administrator account for everyday work.
- Remove access when someone changes role, not only when they leave.
Reviewing
Permissions accumulate silently. A periodic review of who can reach what is dull, cheap and finds surprises every single time.