Least Privilege

Least privilege is the foundational access-control principle. In its narrowest form, every grant should be reviewed against 'does this identity need this access to do its job'. In its broadest form, it is a design principle that permeates architecture — services talk to only the data stores they need, each role sees only the records relevant to its purpose, admin privileges are time-bound and just-in-time rather than always-on. The compensating control for human error, insider threat and credential compromise is that the compromised identity has less to touch.

Regulators treat least-privilege posture as part of 'reasonable security safeguards' (GDPR Article 32, DPDP Section 8(5), PDPA Protection Obligation). Operationally the discipline requires access certification campaigns (periodic reviews that confirm each grant is still needed), joiner-mover-leaver automation (access reconciles when roles change), and a baseline culture of 'request access when needed, not keep it just in case'. The hardest step is the one-time clean-up of accumulated access that pre-dates the policy — most mature programmes do this iteratively over several quarters.