If your business has any information that is classified as proprietary or confidential, limiting access to the data is vital. Access control is an essential requirement for any organization that has employees who connect to the Internet. In its most basic form, access control is a selective restriction of information to certain people and under specific conditions, explains Daniel Crowley, head of https://technologyform.com/technological-innovations/ research at IBM’s X-Force Red team, which focuses on data security. There are two main components: authorization and authentication.

Authentication involves ensuring that the person trying to get access to is who they claim to be. It also includes the verification the password or other credentials that are required before granting access to a network, an application, file or system.

Authorization is the process of granting access to certain areas based on specific roles within a business like engineering, HR, marketing and so on. Role-based access control (RBAC) is one of the most popular and effective methods to restrict access. This type of access is based on policies that identify information required to carry out certain business functions and assign permissions to appropriate roles.

It is simpler to manage and monitor any changes when you have an access control policy which is standard. It is important that policies are clearly communicated to employees to make them aware of how to handle sensitive information with care. There should also be an established procedure for removing access from employees who quit the company, change their role, or are dismissed.