{"id":2702656,"url":"https://alion.io/job/knightec-group-thesis-least-privilege-tool-use-for-coding-agents","title":"Thesis: Least-Privilege Tool Use for Coding Agents","company":{"id":678206,"name":"Knightec Group","domain":"knightecgroup.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/knightecgroup","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Teamtailor","truth_index":{"grade":"C","score":57,"open_postings":26,"ghost_share":0.423,"stale_share":0.077,"repost_share":0.731,"time_to_fill_p50_days":76,"computed_at":"2026-10-26T05:57:25Z"}},"role":"Early Careers","role_family":"Early Careers","seniority":null,"employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Sundsvall, Sweden"],"countries":["SE"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"CI/CD","optional":false},{"name":"Function Calling","optional":false},{"name":"Least Privilege","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-14T10:53:28Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-14","last_verified_at":"2026-10-26T13:15:15Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":12,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":12},"description":"High Level Description\n Coding agents can read a repository, call package registries, and edit CI configuration. Those capabilities make them useful, and they also make a loose default risky: an agent can change the workflow that checks it or pull code from a source the project never intended. This thesis tests least-privilege setups for that tool use, and measures how often a tight policy blocks ordinary work versus risky calls.\n\nWho are we looking for?\nBachelor’s/master’s student Computer Engineering with an interest in software security, developer tooling, and CI/CD.\n\nGraduation in June 2027\n\nFluency in Swedish, both written and spoken\n\nFluency in English, both written and spoken \n\nPurpose\n This thesis investigates how least-privilege controls can be applied to the tools a coding agent is allowed to use, and whether those controls can be tight enough to matter without stopping ordinary development work.\nThe aim is to move past a single “allow the tools” default by:\nIdentifying which capabilities common coding-agent tasks need, and which can stay off by default\n\nSeparating high-impact actions, such as repository write, package installation, and CI-configuration changes, so one task does not imply the others\n\nComparing broader and tighter policies on the same work, including cases where a human checkpoint is more appropriate than a silent allow or a hard denial\n\nMeasuring both sides of the trade-off: legitimate work that is blocked or delayed, and pre-agreed risky action classes that a policy allows, denies, or escalates\n\nPresenting allows and denials in a form a developer can act on, for example in a CI log or a pull-request comment\n\nA proof-of-concept policy layer should be implemented in a small lab and evaluated against a broad baseline. The choice of agent runtime, CI host, language ecosystems, policy mechanisms, and task set is part of the work, and should be agreed with the supervisor. Finding new ways to bypass the sandbox is out of scope.\nIn this thesis, investigate these questions:\nNecessary permissions.Which tools do common coding-agent tasks actually use, and which can stay off by default?\n\nSeparation of capabilities.How should repository write, package installation, and CI edits be split so one task does not imply the others?\n\nBlocked work.How often does a tighter policy stop a legitimate task, and is the block a hard denial or an approval step?\n\nRisky-call coverage.How often do the same policies deny pre-agreed risky classes, such as secret access, CI permission changes, and fetches outside allowed sources?\n\nDeveloper cost.How much extra friction - prompts, approvals, and time - does a tight policy add compared with a broad baseline?\n\nWorkflow fit.Can allows and denials be shown in a way a developer will use?\nScope and Limitations\nScope:\nInvestigating least-privilege policies for coding-agent tool use, rather than agent capability in general.\n\nImplementing a proof-of-concept policy layer in a small, controlled lab.\n\nComparing policies on ordinary maintenance tasks and on a fixed scoring set of risky action classes, agreed in advance.\n\nEvaluating the result as a method and a prototype, not as a production product.\n\nLimitations:\nThe study does not aim to produce a production-ready control plane.\n\nResults are tied to the agent, forge, and ecosystems chosen for the lab, and may not generalize.\n\nThe scoring set measures the policies under study. It is not a claim that a policy is safe in general.\n\nModel poisoning, new sandbox bypasses, and compromised build infrastructure are out of scope.\n\nNo production credentials are used in the agent environment.\n\nAn Exciting Journey with Knightec Group\n Semcon and Knightec have joined forces as Knightec Group. Together, we are Northern Europe’s leading strategic partner in product and digital service development. With a unique combination of cross-functional expertise and a holistic business understanding, we help our clients realize their strategies - from idea to complete solution.\n\nPractical Information\nThis is a thesis position, located at our office in Sundsvall. Start date January or March 2027.\nPlease submit your application as soon as possible, but no later than 2026-11-30. If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact . Note that due to GDPR, we only accept applications through our careers page.","description_format":"text","description_chars":4367,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[{"language":"Swedish","level":"Advanced (C1)","optional":false},{"language":"English","level":"Advanced (C1)","optional":false}]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["IT Consulting & Digital Transformation","Engineering Services"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-16T11:38:05Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":63,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.627,"p_room":1,"age_days":11,"expected_fill_days":76,"reasons":["conf:3","stale_co","velocity","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-26T05:57:25Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/knightec-group-thesis-least-privilege-tool-use-for-coding-agents","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/knightec-group-thesis-least-privilege-tool-use-for-coding-agents.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-26T16:26:55Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":21921,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-27T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":678206},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=678206"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fknightec-group-thesis-least-privilege-tool-use-for-coding-agents"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fknightec-group-thesis-least-privilege-tool-use-for-coding-agents"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fknightec-group-thesis-least-privilege-tool-use-for-coding-agents"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/knightec-group-thesis-least-privilege-tool-use-for-coding-agents\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fknightec-group-thesis-least-privilege-tool-use-for-coding-agents"}]}