Access control to data is crucial for any business that has confidential or proprietary information. Anyone who has employees that connect to the internet should have strong access control measures in place. Daniel Crowley, IBM’s X Force Red team head of research, explains that access control is a means to limit access to information only to certain people and under certain conditions. There are two primary components: authorization and authentication.
Authentication is the process of making sure that the person you’re trying to access is the person they claim to be. It also involves the verification of passwords or other credentials that need to be provided before allowing access to a network, application or file.
Authorization is the act of granting access based on a specific role in the business, such as engineering, HR or marketing. Role-based access control (RBAC) is one of the most widely used and effective methods to restrict access. This kind of access is controlled by policies that define the data required to carry out certain business functions and assigns access to the appropriate roles.
It is easier to control and monitor any changes when you have a policy for access control that is standardized. It is crucial that the policies are clearly communicated with employees to help them be cautious when handling sensitive information. There should be a procedure in place for revoking access to employees who leave the company, change their role or are terminated.