Patent attributes
In one embodiment, a system includes a computing device providing a computing environment including a number of user accounts, where each of the user accounts is assigned specified privileges to execute particular commands or programs, receiving a request to temporarily escalate privileges for one of the user accounts during a specified duration, where the request includes an identifier of the user account, requested privileges, and the specified duration, granting the requested privileges for the specified duration in conjunction with specific restrictions on one or more prohibited activities that are normally permitted for user accounts with the requested privileges, monitoring, during the specified duration, for any indication that the user account has attempted a prohibited activity, detecting an indication that the user account attempted one of the prohibited activities, and initiating an automated remediation corresponding to the indication.