RBAC – Role-Based Access Control is a security model used to manage and restrict access to resources within an organisation based on the roles of individual users. Instead of assigning permissions to each user directly, RBAC assigns permissions to specific roles, and users are granted access based on their assigned role.
Here’s a simple breakdown:
- Roles: In RBAC, a role represents a set of permissions related to specific tasks or responsibilities. For example, an “Administrator” role might have full access to all systems, while a “User” role might only have access to certain applications or files.
- Permissions: These are the specific actions that can be performed on resources, such as reading, writing, or deleting data. Permissions are assigned to roles, not directly to users.
- Users: Users are assigned to roles based on their job functions. A user can only perform actions allowed by the permissions associated with their role, ensuring that they don’t have unnecessary access to sensitive data or systems.
Why Use RBAC? RBAC simplifies access management by organising permissions into roles, which helps reduce the risk of unauthorised access. It also makes it easier to manage access control, as users can be grouped based on their job responsibilities.
Think of RBAC like a workplace with different departments. Each department (role) has specific tasks (permissions), and employees (users) are given access to only the tasks related to their department. This keeps things organised and secure, ensuring employees only have access to what they need to do their jobs.
