Least privilege

Also called principle of least privilege.

Least privilege means giving a person or program only the access needed for the work it is allowed to do.

Example

A bot that only drafts refund replies gets read access to the policy and no ability to send mail. Sending stays with a person.

Why it matters

Extra access turns a mistake or an injection into a bigger incident. Ask-first rules and narrow tool permissions are ways products apply the idea. A shared computer makes the idea practical: do not put a credential where every bot on the account can use it unless every bot should.

Common confusion

Least privilege is not the same as “the bot asks every time,” and it is not a product name. It is the habit of granting less.

Sources

OWASP AI agent security cheat sheet

Updated September 30, 2026.