Less Privileges is a good thing when it comes to computer security.
We all like having rights: the right to speak freely, the right to vote according to our conscience, ~the right to bear arms~ etc.
A right is the ability or privilege to do something in the real world and in the virtual one.
The problem is that rights equal power both in the real world and in the virtual world of computers.
A wise man (Lord Acton) said once: “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
If we apply the same principle to software that runs on your PC, we could say that software that has absolute power can corrupt your computer absolutely.
This is where the principle of least privilege comes to the rescue.
The idea is that software should only be granted the most restrictive set of privileges (or lowest clearance) needed for it to perform its authorized tasks.
For example, let’s say you just purchased or else somehow legally obtained the latest most advanced game in the market (i.e. Advanced Tetris 4D 3000 XL) and installed it on your computer.
This game should only be allowed to operate and modify things that are related to the game itself like the game related files.
This game should never have the rights or privileges to read your private documents, modify or delete them.
In the dark pc ages, when it came to Microsoft operating systems there was not much you could do to protect your computer against software that abused its privileges.
This kind of software can be divided into 2 types:
- 1. Badly written software which contains bugs (errors) that influence things that were never meant to be influenced by the makers of that software.*
* Just to be clear there is no such thing as bug free software.
- Malware (Viruses, Worms, Spywear etc), software that is written with the intension of abusing its power.
Although the end result could be similar Malware has a potential remedy in the form Antivirus, AntiSpywear software
I would highly recommend that you test your computer for Malware and install , AntiSpywear software because this is your second line of defense and no pc should leave home and travel the World Wide Web with out it.
The problem was that even if you had Anti Malware software to protect you. You still had a problem with accidental mishaps by software that malfunctioned.
But the good news is that you can now take matters into your own hands and limit the ability of harmful software to damage your computer using built-in mechanisms inside Windows.
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