A computer implemented method for changing the privileges of a process comprising: associating with each of one or more user-ids a default set of privileges; assigning to a process, at process creation time, a set of privileges based on the default set of privileges associated with a user-id, of the one or more user-ids, wherein the user-id is an owner of the process; storing information related to the assigned set of privileges based on the default set of privileges assigned to the process at process creation time in a process metadata repository; executing the process, wherein the assigned set of privileges based on the default set of privileges comprises process privileges that the process is authorized to have while executing in an operating system; receiving, at a system interface, a request (114, from the process or from a different process to modify the assigned set of privileges based on the default set of privileges that was assigned to the process at process creation time; modifying the assigned set of privileges based on the default set of privileges to become a sub-set of the assigned set of privileges based on the default set of privileges, wherein the modification is applied responsive to the request from the process or from the different process received by the system interface, and the modification to the assigned set of privileges based on the default set of privileges is applied during subsequent execution of the process, wherein the subset of the assigned set of privileges based on the default set of privileges comprises process privileges that the process is authorized to have while executing in the operating system subsequent to the modification; and recording the modification to the assigned set of privileges based on the default set of privileges in the process metadata repository for the process. associating with each of one or more user-ids a default set of privileges; assigning to a process, at process creation time, a set of privileges based on the default set of privileges associated with a user-id, of the one or more user-ids, wherein the user-id is an owner of the process; storing information related to the assigned set of privileges based on the default set of privileges assigned to the process at process creation time in a process metadata repository; executing the process, wherein the assigned set of privileges based on the default set of privileges comprises process privileges that the process is authorized to have while executing in an operating system; receiving, at a system interface, a request (114, from the process or from a different process to modify the assigned set of privileges based on the default set of privileges that was assigned to the process at process creation time; modifying the assigned set of privileges based on the default set of privileges to become a sub-set of the assigned set of privileges based on the default set of privileges, wherein the modification is applied responsive to the request from the process or from the different process received by the system interface, and the modification to the assigned set of privileges based on the default set of privileges is applied during subsequent execution of the process, wherein the subset of the assigned set of privileges based on the default set of privileges comprises process privileges that the process is authorized to have while executing in the operating system subsequent to the modification; and recording the modification to the assigned set of privileges based on the default set of privileges in the process metadata repository for the process.