Detailed Report: The Principle of Least Privilege in Data Security

This report explores the Principle of Least Privilege, a critical concept in data security, addressing growing vulnerabilities in modern systems. It highlights how this principle, which grants users only the necessary privileges, combats internal security threats, excessive privileges, and privilege abuse. The report references key sources to illustrate the principle's application in databases and scripting, emphasizing its role in eliminating scripting risks and ensuring data security. Furthermore, it discusses the concept of separation of duty as a related, more secure strategy. While acknowledging the challenges posed by operating system vulnerabilities, the report advocates for the consistent implementation of the Principle of Least Privilege to enhance data security and protect information systems from various attacks.

Running head: THE PRINCIPLE OF LEAST PRIVILEGE 1
The Principle of Least Privilege
Name of the Student
Name of the Institution

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With the growing vulnerabilities, data security is an increasing concern among
individuals and organizations. In many organizations, users, batch files, and script have the
highest number of vulnerabilities to data security. Although there are many methods used by
organizations to protect data security, the principle of least privilege is the one that is mostly
used to address compliance and security issues arising daily. According to Shen, Chen, Li, and
Liu (2013), the principle of least privilege was introduced to curb internal security threats that
came as a result of high privileges assigned by system administrators. In the article, they stated
that "The Principle of Least Privilege requires that each subject in a system be granted the most
restrictive set of privileges…" (p. 41).
While there are many security risks affecting information systems, excessive privileges,
privilege abuse, and unauthorized privilege elevation forms the first three vulnerabilities
affecting databases (Schulman, 2017). When referring excessive privileges, Schulman stated that
“…these privileges may be used to gain access to confidential information” (Schulman, 2017).
Database forms an essential part of the IT infrastructure as it stores critical data that is vulnerable
to attacks. The principle is a fundamental mechanism that is being executed by database
administrators to deal with privilege problems. This solution ensures users only have access to
operations and data that they need in their day-to-day operations.
As outlined above, scripts are targeted by attackers to compromise database security.
Therefore, the principle of least privilege can be used to eliminate scripting risks in Windows
command line (Vossen, 2002). Vossen also postulates that “more subtle attacks may introduce
Trojans if relative paths or unsecured binaries are used” (Vossen, 2002). By observing the
principle of least privilege, developers ensure that the script is not executable in the administrator

THE PRINCIPLE OF LEAST PRIVILEGE 3
context. The principle of least privilege is, therefore, important in ensuring data security is
guaranteed in case good coding practices have not been adopted in database development.
System users form the most impart part of an information system yet are a weak link in
the security of the system. In a system, a user is granted various privileges that enable them to
carry out various operations. To ensure the safety of a system, it is advisable to grant specific
rather than broad privileges. The principle of least privilege positively impacts the security of a
system by ensuring users are assigned privileges that are in line with their roles. According to
Marcher, Needham, Rotondon, and Kyte (2014), “closely related to the principle of least
privilege is the concept of separation of duty” (p. 8). This is a more secure strategy where critical
privileges are shared between two or more users for accountability.
Assessing the benefits and the applicability of the principle of least privilege shows that
system securities would benefit more from it were it not for security vulnerabilities in operating
systems. This was advanced in a research conducted in 2013 that stated that “as operating
systems and software mature, clear-cut cases of vulnerabilities due to permission gaps in
commonly used software, such as allowing everyone to read and write critical log files for
syslog” (Ng, 2013). Although operating system developers are trying to overcome that
vulnerability by launching regular patches, privilege setting remains a big security challenge.
Therefore, system developers should be encouraged to make the principle of least privilege a
right to enhance data security.

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References
Malcher, M., Needham, P., Rotondon, S., & Kyte, T. (2014). Securing Oracle Database 12c: A
Technical Primer. Mcgraw-Hill Education.
Ng, B. H. (2013). Towards Least Privilege Principle: Limiting Unintended Accesses in Software
Systems.
Schulman, A. (2017, April 26). Top 10 database attacks. Retrieved from The British Computer
Society: https://www.bcs.org/content/ConWebDoc/8852
Shen, M., Chen, M., Li, M., & Liu, L. (2013). Research of least privilege for database
administrators. International Journal of Database Theory and Application, 6(6), 39-50.
Vossen, J. (2002, February). Reduce Windows command line scripting risks with least privilege.
Retrieved from Search Security: https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/feature/Reduce-
Windows-command-line-scripting-risks-with-least-privilege