Who decides?
Four people want into the same folder. A manager says no. The folder owner says yes. A rule says "only on work laptops". A job title says "finance staff only".
Each is a different way to decide. The four ways have short names, and you learn them here.
Key words
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | Proving who you are. | a password |
| Authorisation | Deciding what a proven person may do. | |
| Access control model | A set of rules for who may use what. | |
| MAC | Mandatory access control: a central authority sets labels and nobody can change them. | |
| DAC | Discretionary access control: the owner of the data decides who may use it. | |
| RBAC | Role-based access control: access follows the job role. | |
| ABAC | Attribute-based access control: access follows rules about the person, the device and the situation. | |
| Attribute | A fact about a person, a device or a time, such as department. | |
| Network | Computers and devices joined together so they can share data. |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can tell MAC, DAC, RBAC and ABAC apart and choose one for a physical or a virtual network.
Starter: what you already know
Have a go
Starter: what you already know
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
Cycle 1: prove it, then decide
First authentication: you prove who you are, with a password, a card or a fingerprint.
Then authorisation: the system decides what you may do. The four models are four ways to make that decision.
They work on a physical network, such as a locked comms room door. They also work on a virtual one, such as a shared drive.
The four models
| Model | Who decides | Example |
|---|---|---|
| MAC | A central authority, with labels | Data is labelled "secret". Only staff cleared for secret open it. |
| DAC | The owner of the data | You share your folder with two classmates. |
| RBAC | The job role | Every help desk agent can reset passwords. |
| ABAC | Rules over attributes | Finance staff, on a checked laptop, in office hours. |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Check: which model?
Have a go
Check: which model?
4 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.