Least privilege is respect for future mistakes.
Limit authority so ordinary errors remain small, explainable, and recoverable.
Interpretation
People and software will eventually misuse a capability by accident or compromise. Least privilege reduces the consequence before that day arrives. Grant only the actions, resources, and duration required, then review actual use to remove permissions that have become habitual rather than necessary.
Practice
- Scope permissions to task and environment.
- Expire temporary access automatically.
- Review unused privileges and service accounts.
Anti-pattern
Giving every CI job a permanent production administrator token.