Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

What is role-based access control (RBAC)?

One technique for limiting network access based on the responsibilities of certain users within an organization is called role-based access control, or RBAC. RBAC, also known as role-based security, is a tool used by organizations to categorize access levels according to the roles and responsibilities of individual employees.

Restricting network access is crucial for companies with a large workforce, contractors, or third parties that have access to the network, such suppliers and customers. This is because it may be difficult to adequately monitor network access. Businesses that use RBAC are better equipped to protect their sensitive information and vital apps. RBAC keeps users from accessing information that is irrelevant to them and makes sure they only access the data they need to do their duties.

The rights that a person is allowed are determined by their job within the organization, guaranteeing that lower-level workers cannot access sensitive data or carry out high-level duties.

The foundation of RBAC is the idea of roles and privileges. Factors like authority, skill, and accountability determine access. The employee may restrict access to the network and other resources, including files or programs. For instance, some programs or files may only have temporary access, whereas other files may be read-only in order to finish a job. Users may be classified by organizations as administrators, end users, or specialized users. Additionally, these jobs may overlap or provide distinct functions varying degrees of authorization.

Effective procedures for implementing role-based access control

When adopting RBAC, organizations should adhere to a number of best practices, such as the following:

• RBAC can be implemented without an identity and access management system in place, although it is simpler to do so when one is in place. The administration of digital or electronic identities is made easier by IAM. IT administrators may regulate user access to vital information within their organizations by using an IAM architecture.
• Make a list of the resources for which control access is necessary. Systems for managing contacts, emails, and client databases may fall under this category.
• Examine the labor force and determine which jobs need the same level of access. But be careful-creating too many roles might negate the benefit of role-based access restriction. A basic job that contains the access that each employee needs, including email and the company intranet, is one example of an RBAC. A customer support agent with read and write access to the client database can be another position.
• Apply the least-privileged-persons principle (POLP). Users should only have access to the activities, programs, or data necessary for them to do their jobs, according to POLP. RBAC roles must be used to provide access to extra activities above the least privileged level.
• Once a list of roles and their corresponding access privileges has been created, assign employees to those roles and configure their access.
• Examine the processes for changing positions, closing accounts for departing workers, and registering new hires.
• Make an RBAC policy that outlines possible problems to avoid.
• Make sure RBAC is included into every system used by the business.
• Provide training so that staff members are aware of the RBAC tenets.
• Audit the roles on a regular basis, taking into account the personnel allocated to them and the level of access allowed for each function. Change the role and alter the access level if it is discovered that a certain role has unneeded access to a particular system.

Benefits of Role-Based Access Control

There are many security choices available, and choosing the best one for our business isn't always simple. Numerous well-established advantages of RBAC make it stand out from the competitors.

An RBAC framework is capable of:

• Cut down on complexity: Access is granted to new hires according to their positions rather than extensive lists of server and document requirements. This makes establishing, upholding, and auditing policies easier.
• Permit international management: Modify a role's permissions to change access for several workers at once.
• Facilitate the onboarding process: We don't need to worry about someone's permissions when they join, relocate inside, or are promoted within our organization-we only need to make sure they're in the proper location. The remainder is handled by the roles.
• Cut down on errors: Errors often occur in traditional security management. When we add permissions for people, we have a lot of room for error. We are less likely to grant someone too much (or too little) authority if we alter a role's access.
• Reduced total expenses: Businesses save money on security administration when administrative tasks decrease. Our company will save time and money by doing this.

RBAC versus ABAC

Although they both use access control techniques, role-based access control and attribute-based access control (ABAC) use different approaches. ABAC regulates access based on a mix of the following categories, while RBAC gives access permissions based on the responsibilities of users:

• User characteristics: Name, nationality, organization, ID, job, and security clearance are a few examples of these.
• Characteristics of the resource: These may include information on the object's name, owner, and creation date.
• Action properties: These characteristics explain the activity connected to the application or system that is being used.
• Features of the environment: Threat levels, access location, and access time are a few examples of these. For instance, the U.S. Army used a zero-trust security approach in addition to adopting ABAC.

RBAC is a predetermined role-based access control mechanism; in contrast, ABAC is more dynamic and provides more granular control.

Organizations could utilize RBAC, for instance, to provide coarse-grained access control. For instance, all university professors should have access to Google for research purposes, and all contractors should have access to business email. However, businesses should employ ABAC when it comes to fine-grained access control or when they have to make judgements under certain circumstances. For instance, granting academics access to Google only in the event that they work in building X and instruct first-year students.

RBAC examples include

A user may be assigned to a group or position by an organization. A user gains access to all of the permissions in a role group when they are added to it.

An organization may choose to divide responsibilities among visitors, job-specific end users, and administrators. The following roles are examples of possible roles:

• GitHub, Docker, and Jenkins are the only software engineering technologies available to the software engineer assigned to this function inside the company.
• A marketer who is assigned a certain position and has exclusive access to the company's marketing resources. This might include social network accounts, Google Analytics, or email marketing lists, for instance.
• An employee in human resources who receives a job and has access to HR-related services including Paycor, ADP, and Oracle Cloud Human Capital Management.

For example, software engineers will have access to the tools they need to do their work, but they won't have access to the data or resources that marketing or HR departments inside the same organization have. Similarly, marketing professionals will have access to the tools required for their work, but not software engineering or human resources tools. Each user's rights are based on their position and function inside the company.

RBAC versus ACL

In terms of administrative burden and security, RBAC outperforms ACL for the majority of commercial applications. RBAC is more suitable for a company-wide security system with a supervising administrator, but ACL is better for establishing security at the individual user level and for low-level data. For instance, an ACL may allow write access to a certain file, but it is unable to control how a user could edit the file.

Role-Based Access Control Permissions: What Are They?

Permissions define a user's scope of access and actions inside the system. Permissions are the guidelines individuals abide by in accordance with the responsibilities we have delineated.

The permissions should involve:

• Gain access: For what person is a certain disc, program, file, or record open? Who is to say that these things aren't even known? Access will restrict what individuals may see.
• Reading: Even if they cannot alter anything inside these papers, who can go through them? Certain roles could be able to refer to materials but not alter them.
• Composing: Who has the authority to alter documents? Are the modifications final or do others need to approve them as well? We'll clarify this using our authorization.
• Distributing: Who is authorized to transmit a document as an attachment in an email? Similar to other permissions, some individuals may be able to reference things but not distribute them.
• Finances: Who has the authority to charge? Who is able to provide refunds? The ability to handle charges and refunds, create credit accounts, or stop payments are examples of permissions.

It's important to keep in mind that roles come first, not permissions. Establish the responsibilities of each position and apply permissions appropriately.

Even if an employee's existing job limits them, don't let them ask for permission. If we start changing permissions one-by-one, the system might get quite complicated very fast.