That’s how fast “privacy by default” can betray its own promise when paired with privilege escalation. What was meant to protect became the attack surface. Privacy by default works only when permissions are tight from the start, and when escalation is impossible without explicit, traceable consent. The gap between a safe system and one open to abuse can be nothing more than a silent default setting.
Privilege escalation exploits thrive on weak defaults. An overbroad role, a forgotten test user, a misconfigured API scope — each can serve as an invisible ladder to higher access. Attackers don’t guess passwords; they mine for missteps in configuration and automation. Every unguarded path in an environment can become a route to full control.
True privacy by default is not turning everything “off” at first run. It is building systems with hardened origins, where even initial permissions are bound to least privilege. It means guarding upgrade paths as fiercely as the data itself. A secure baseline is not a checkbox in a settings page. It is the architecture beneath the code, the access model baked into every function and every environment.