What is Access Control and its Importance in Cyber Security?

Are you wondering what access control is? Then here, you will get the answer. This is the security technique that minimizes the risk of the organization in a computing environment. Access control can work in two types, physical and logical.

Physical access control is limited with campus, rooms, buildings, physical IT assets, etc. Logical limits its connection within the system file, computer network, and other data.

Whenever organizations use electronic access, they rely on user access card readers, credentials, reports, and some proprietary areas. They need the auditing report to track the employees few places they do restrict entry because of unauthorized access.

Types of Access Control:

There are few types which are following down:

1. Mandatory access control (MAC): This is one of the security models that the central authority regulates, which is based on the multiple security level. This is very often to get uses by the government and military environment. There are few classifications which gets assigned by the system resource based on the information security.
2. Discretionary access control (DAC): This is one type of access control method where administrators protects the system, data and policies and are authorized with the resource access. There are many systems which enables the administrator to limit their access so that they get the limit for propagation. The common thing in the DAC system is the lack of centralized control.
3. Role-based access control (RBAC): It has a wider use to control the mechanism that restricts the access the computer resources. Everything action has to be taken by the individual and group, defining the business function like engineering level, executive level, and much more. It helps to create the identity for the individual users. The security model relies on the complex structure and role permission to develop regulate employee’s system. Mainly, this enforced the access policies and procedures.
4. Attribute-based access control (ABAC): This act as a methodology where you will have access to set the rules, relationship, policies and much more.

What all are the Components of Access Control?

In high-level access control restrict the access of the resource. For any access, it tries to do the control, and for doing this, it has five main components, those are below:

1. Authentication: It provides an assertion that the include identity of the person and computer. It validates the personal identity documents, which can verify the authenticity with the digital certificate and check the login credential against the stored details.
2. Authorization: This function specifies the access and privilege of the resources. For every company, human resource staff provides the access card to the employees.
3. Access: As soon as it becomes authenticated, it will be authorized, and the computer can access the resource.
4. Manage: To manage the control system, it removes the authentication and provides the authorization to the system and user. Few systems gets sync with the G Suite, and it streamlines the management process.
5. Audit: It has widespread use, which has to control and enforce by the principle of least privilege. Users will end up with access, and those are no longer needs, so that the regular audits can minimize the risk.

Why is the Access Control Important?

Access control minimizes the risk and provides authorized access physically in the computer system. It forms the foundational part of network security. Depending on the organization access control varies, those are discussed below:

1. PCI DSS: It requires nine mandates organizations that restrict the physical access in their building and they have the adequate logical access. It mitigates the cybersecurity risk and stealing sensitive data. In organization there is ten employs, who provides the solution to track and monitor the system in an audible manner.
2. HIPPA: It is a security rules that need to cover the entities with their business associates, preventing the unauthorized disclosure to protect health information. It includes physical and electronic access.
3. SOC 2: This is one type of auditing procedure that enforce the third-party vendor. This manages the sensitive data so that it can prevent breaches, and it also protects the employee’s and customer’s privacy. There are few companies who gain SOC 2; it assures access control, which includes two-factor authentication with data encryption. It provides the assurance that is particularly important for those organisation that get process with personality identifiable information (PII).

Why do we need access control instead of keys?

In today’s era, the mechanical key is the simple form of physical access control, and most of small organizations use this method effectively. Though mechanical keys have several flows and few limitations, you can solve you most of the problem by using these key. Those are below:

1. People lose key: If anyone loses the key, you need to change the lock and ensure that lost key will not be misused. You also need to distribute the new keys to everybody to get access again.
2. Keys don’t leave an audit trail: Since, it is a key, you will not know who has used and you will not know who has entered and what time he had entered.
3. Keys are difficult to manage: If anyone wants to enter the room, he needs a large number of keys, which is very difficult to carry always. Even it is difficult to remember which key for the which door. It is also risky to labeling on them.

Increase Control and Security:

When you use an electronic control system, you need to avoid using mechanical keys, at that time, you will gain control. It can manage:

1. Who has access: You can easily allow automatic control to the employees. Visitors and contractors have to report for the same at the reception desk.
2. Which door they have access to: You can even differentiate the doors access for the different people. Everybody will get door access as per their work category. For example, technicians are only allowed in the lab.
3. What time they can gain access: Junior staff will get access till their standard shift time, and seniors can get as soon as they enter in the building because they are most responsible people in the company and they work for more time.
4. Under which condition they are allowed access: You need to set your system where contractors will only get the key if it shows that they are presented for their certification.

Final Thought:

This access control is best for any company where you will have more control, and you will get good access for each parameter and individual. You can update everything very easily whenever you need it. If any incident happens, it will show you the incident time.