PERMISSIONS AND ACCESS CONTROL

LEAST PRIVILEGE Least privilege means granting only the minimum access needed to do the job. The idea is old and well-proven in computer security. You would not give a babysitter the keys to the safe, the car, and the office, just because it is easier than deciding which keys they need. WHY IT MATTERS FOR AGENTS An agent can be tricked, can make mistakes, or can have a bug. When that happens, the damage is limited by what the agent is allowed to do. If the agent can only read a folder, the worst outcome of a hijack is that it reads that folder. If it can run any command with administrator rights, the worst outcome is catastrophic. This concept is sometimes described as limiting the blast radius, the area that can be damaged when something goes wrong. HOW TO APPLY IT List what the job actually requires, one item at a time. Grant access to only those items. Prefer read access over write access, and write over delete. Prefer narrow scopes, such as one folder, over wide ones, such as the entire disk. Prefer short-lived access, such as a temporary token, over permanent access. Review regularly, since jobs change and permissions tend to pile up unnoticed, a problem called permission creep.