Access Control Policy

An access control policy is a data security technique that creates a unified system for controlling access to organizational data, applications, and systems. Physical access control allows IT to secure hardware, and logical control helps protect the software and data. An active access control policy minimizes cybersecurity risks to an organization by governing who has access to which systems, how they can access them, and authentication rules and requirements. 

The sprawling nature of cloud-based and hybrid cloud implementations has created numerous access control challenges. It can be difficult to keep track of evolving assets that are spread out physically and across different layers of data. The access control strategies that worked well in traditional environments where an organization’s data and devices were on-premises are ineffective in dispersed IT ecosystems. 

In the past, IT teams were tasked with manually monitoring and evaluating user access profiles. This was extremely tedious, unproductive, and a waste of time. The distributed nature of cloud implementations makes it impossible to handle a massive number of requests by hand, and most organizations create access control policies incorporating machine learning tools. 

There are a few main types of access control policies that incorporate AI to help protect users and data.

• Attribute-based access control defines access based on Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies.
• Discretionary access control allows the data owner to decide on access control based on specific rules. 
• Mandatory access control is based on individuals and the resources they can access.
• Role-based access control gives users access based on their role.
• Break-glass access control incorporates an emergency account that can bypass regular permissions. 
• Rule-based access control allows administrators to define the rules governing data access and resources.