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The Principle of Least Privilege: Why File Permissions Like 600/644/755 Exist

Anyone who has worked with SSH private keys has run into an instruction to "set it to 600." Config files, by contrast, often get 644, and executable scripts get 755.

  • File permissions 600/644/755 represent Unix-style access rights.
  • Each number breaks down into owner, group, others, and read/write/execute.
  • Principle of least privilege guides granting minimal required access.

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