Exercise 2: View-Only/Full-Control as Least Privilege — Possible Solution ==================================================================== WHAT THIS CHAPTER SAYS ------------------------------ Per this chapter, "default to the least access that accomplishes the task - if you only need to see an error message or confirm a setting, view-only is enough and far less invasive. Only escalate to full control when you genuinely need to act yourself, ideally after explaining why. This is Chapter 6's own least-privilege principle, applied directly to a human-facing context." WHAT LEAST PRIVILEGE MEANS IN GENERAL ------------------------------ The general principle (per Chapter 6, previewed here) is to hold only the level of access actually needed for a specific task, rather than defaulting to the broadest access available "just in case." Extra access beyond what a task requires adds risk without adding any real benefit to accomplishing that task. HOW THIS MAPS ONTO VIEW-ONLY VS. FULL CONTROL ------------------------------ View-only access is the lower-privilege option - it lets you observe and diagnose without the ability to change anything. Full control is higher-privilege - the ability to click, type, and directly alter the user's system. Applying least privilege here means starting with view-only whenever it's sufficient (e.g. just seeing an error message) and only escalating to full control when the task genuinely can't be accomplished without acting directly - the exact same "use only what the task requires" logic Chapter 6 applies to infrastructure access, now applied to what you request from an end user. WHY THIS IS THE SAME PRINCIPLE, NOT JUST A SIMILAR-SOUNDING ONE ------------------------------ In both cases, the underlying reasoning is identical: minimizing what you can do to only what's needed reduces the potential for harm (accidental or otherwise) without limiting your ability to actually complete the task. The context differs (a human watching vs. a server you administer), but the decision rule is exactly the same. WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER ------------------------------ It states the chapter's own explicit connection to least privilege, explains the general principle, and maps the specific view-only/ full-control distinction onto that principle directly rather than treating the connection as superficial.