RBAC: A Complete Guide to Role Based Access Control

Access to a network can be controlled in a manner known as role-based access control (RBAC). With RBAC in place, employees can see only the data that is directly relevant to their duties. Roles in a company determine what rights each person has and keep lower-level employees from getting sensitive information or doing tasks that belong to higher-level employees. This article entails everything you need to know about RBAC, including examples. The differences between RBAC vs ABAC are also stated in the article to prevent confusion whenever you come across any of them. Let’s dig in!

What Is RBAC?

The term “role-based access control” (RBAC) refers to a method of security that allows or denies people access to a system depending on their assigned “role” in the company. This reduces the possibility of unauthorized workers accessing private data or carrying out illegal activities while still enabling users to access the information and applications required to complete their job duties. RBAC can improve user interaction with data in addition to limiting access. It can grant specific roles read-only or read/write access, which limits the user’s ability to remove data or run commands.

Large businesses, or those that handle a lot of contractors, vendors, or even customers, need a privileged user access control system that works well. RBAC will safeguard important data, increase operational effectiveness, and assist in verifying regulatory compliance for these firms.

How Role-Based Access Control Works

The organization should carefully define the roles and permissions associated with each one before deploying RBAC. This entails specifying permissions in the following areas with precision:

Data modification permissions (read, write, full access, etc.)
Access to internal company applications
Permissions within an application

Modeling roles and permissions is the first step in optimizing RBAC. This involves designating all duties and responsibilities of employees to particular jobs that establish the proper privileges. Then, based on the worker’s tasks, the organization can designate positions.

Organizations can assign rights or roles to individual users using role-based access control. Determining permissions that let users carry out their responsibilities without requiring additional changes is the aim.

To set up and keep an eye on RBAC, companies use Identity and Access Management (IAM) tools. IAM mainly helps companies with large workforces by recording, keeping track of, and updating all identities and permissions. “Provisioning” refers to giving permission, and “deprovisioning” refers to taking it away. Organizations implementing this system need to define a consistent set of roles for everyone involved.

The RBAC Model

The RBAC standard divides access control into three categories: restricted, hierarchical, and core.

Here is a full explanation of them:

#1. Core RBAC

The fundamental components of each role-based access control system are described in the core model. Although core RBAC is a stand-alone access control technique, it also forms the basis for the limited and hierarchical models.

#2. A hierarchical RBAC

If you strengthen your security posture against potential threats as if they have already breached your defenses, you can reduce the damage from a successful attack. By limiting your network’s attack surface, segmenting access, and confirming end-to-end encryption, you may lessen the “blast radius,” or the potential damage caused by a breach. You can also keep an eye on your network in real time.

#3. Constrained RBAC

To the basic paradigm, this third RBAC standard adds separation of roles. There are two categories for the separation of duties: static and dynamic. One user is not permitted to hold jobs that are mutually exclusive (as defined by the organization) under Static Separation of Duty (SSD) relations.

A user may participate in competing roles according to the Dynamic Separation of Duty (DSD) concept. The user might not, however, be able to perform both tasks in a single session.

Therefore, all RBAC are required to abide by these three guidelines:

Assigning roles: Only after choosing or being given a role may a subject exercise a permit.
Authorization by role: A subject needs permission to participate actively.
Authorization of permission: Only permissions permitted for the subject’s active role may be exercised by the subject.

Examples of RBAC

RBAC enables businesses to classify their employees as either administrators, experts, or regular folks. The following are examples of RBAC:

Developers in the field of software engineering have access to various resources for creating software.
Users of marketing have access to marketing tools such as customer relationship management (CRM), online analytics, and content management systems (CMS).
Users in the financial sector who are granted access to accounting or billing systems.
Depending on the nature of the function, there may be a management layer and a contributor layer. Inside a given application, different jobs have different levels of privilege.
When a user’s responsibilities change, the company must either manually reassign their roles to new employees or assign them to a role group and utilize role assignment regulations to make changes to the group’s membership.
Users get access to every role in a role group when they join it. An individual’s access is restricted when they are removed from a group. Another choice is to momentarily divide people into several groups, giving them access to particular information or applications and deleting them after they’re done using them.

Best RBAC Implementation Practices

It can be easy to establish role-based access control if you adhere to a few best practices. The following are some excellent practices to assist with RBAC:

Take note of the resource permissions that the user currently has. It’s critical to have comprehensive data and to be able to see user access to resources and applications, including hardware and software.

Standardize user credentials and restrict access to only those who need it based on job duties by using role-specific templates. Also, keep an eye on any changes that are made to user roles, access rights, and permissions so that you can find and look into privilege abuse, strange account behavior, and other security holes.

Role-based Access Control in Azure AD

There are two kinds of role-based access controls offered by Azure Active Directory:

#1. Integrated roles

Azure AD has a large number of built-in roles. Every role does, however, come with a set of unchangeable permissions.

#2. Custom roles

A set of permissions that are adjustable based on the role is one of the features that Azure AD offers for bespoke roles. Using custom roles to grant permissions is a two-step process. It entails generating a unique Azure AD role and allocating the necessary permissions based on a predetermined list. Either the object scope or the organization level can designate a custom role. While object-scope permissions are restricted to a particular application, custom permission rights grant access to all organizational resources for the member.

Managing Role-Based Access Control

It is inevitable that the RBAC you build at the beginning of this project will not be the same as the RBAC you will eventually need. During the initial stages of installation, monitor your security status and adjust your roles as necessary. After you’ve achieved stability, establish a regular review schedule that you can stick to, perhaps annually or quarterly, depending on your organization’s demands.

Although using roles makes it easier to add, remove, and modify rights for specific people, you will still need to make changes to your roles as your organization becomes more complicated. This is where frequent review and iterative adjustment are useful.

Keep gathering input and keeping an eye on your security situation at all times. Furthermore, carry out an ongoing evaluation of roles, role assignments, and RBAC authorization. Examine user reviews and access logs to find out what is and isn’t working.

Watch out for:

roles having unneeded access to a specific resource.
individuals trying to access information that is not related to their position.
role assignments that overlap.
role expansion/proliferation.

Advantages of RBAC

Restricting access to business-critical information by unneeded employees can help maintain security and compliance. The following are the advantages of RBAC:

#1. Increasing the effectiveness of operations

Because role-based access control streamlines the automation of access privileges, it can assist in decreasing manual duties and paperwork. Businesses may assign, change, add, and remove roles and responsibilities more quickly and easily to improve operational efficiency when they use an RBAC software solution.

#2. Boosts security

RBAC limits user access to the minimal amounts necessary to complete a task. This makes it easier for companies to follow security best practices, such as the principle of least privilege (PoLP), which lowers the risk of data hacks and leaks. RBAC reduces the attack surface, which lessens the effect of a breach by limiting access to protected information to the role the hacker exploited as an entry point.

#3. Exhibiting adherence

Organizations can demonstrate compliance with state, local, and federal regulations by implementing RBAC. Administrators and IT teams may now more efficiently control who has access to sensitive information. RBAC is a tool that financial and medical organizations can use to control who has access to sensitive information like PCI and PHI.

Disadvantages of Role-Based Access Control

The following are the disadvantages of RBAC:

#1. Needs expertise in business

When it comes to role definition, there is no one-size-fits-all method. When deciding how to classify roles and control access for those positions, organizations need to collaborate across departments. This necessitates a thorough comprehension of both the technical framework supporting the organization’s ideal form and its composition.

In large or developing firms, this may be a demanding undertaking made tougher when IT or security managers are required to establish positions without the support of HR or senior decision-makers. This frequent attempt to streamline implementation actually exacerbates the issue and causes a divergence from overarching business objectives.

#2. It’s not flexible

It makes sense that RBAC has a reputation for being overly strict. As companies and teams grow, their entry needs change. The positions you established at the start of your RBAC project could no longer align with business objectives. Administrators are also under pressure to onboard new hires as soon as possible, even if their roles are not fully clear.

What was the outcome? Roles and authorization levels may not always match up. Someone might, for example, have too many roles assigned to them, too many permissions granted for those jobs, or maybe both of these. Although these attempts could provide a temporary solution, they also result in security flaws and difficulties with compliance, negating the original purpose of implementing RBAC!

#3. Requires careful application

Sometimes it’s hard to figure out who does what. Is there ever a situation when a hierarchical structure is more significant than access for junior employees relative to their managers? Is it appropriate to provide a user with a job outside of their department so they can have temporary access to files with special access? There can be a lot of questions, and sometimes the solutions won’t be obvious.

Alternatives to RBAC

Any means of protecting your network that doesn’t inconvenience its users is an effective access control approach. Access control using RBAC is still widely used; however, there may be better ways to limit user privileges. Access control lists and attribute-based access control are two of the methods available for managing access control.

#1. ACL vs RBAC

ACLs are databases that store information on who has access to what parts of a computer system. If you want to restrict who can access an item and what they can do with it, you can use an ACL, which stands for “access control list.” The operating system grants access in accordance with each user’s entries, which specify the allowed operations (view, create, export, etc.).

For most businesses, RBAC is a superior alternative to ACLs since it provides more security with less administrative work. You may use an ACL to restrict access to low-level data. RBAC, on the other hand, is more successful at limiting access.

#2. RBAC vs ABAC

Implementation of policies that govern access permissions based on attributes—that is, object, user, system, and environmental information—is known as attribute-based access control or ABAC. In order to decide whether to grant or refuse access to an object, it employs boolean logic to assess set-valued or atomic properties and their relationships.

The granularity of ABAC makes it more difficult to administer than RBAC, which uses a fixed number of responsibilities. One way that RBAC vs ABAC differ from one another is that, while the second system may limit access to software engineers, the first system may allow all users with a management role to access GitHub.

When to use RBAC vs ABAC

You might be wondering which of the two models is ideal for your organization after learning about their differences. Five typical use cases for ABAC vs RBAC are as follows:

#1. Workers who are dispersed

ABAC is a preferable option if your team is dispersed over several sites. You can assign rights based on an employee’s location and restrict access to that time zone’s business hours by putting an ABAC model into place.

#2. Teams that are temporary

During business hours, teams working on a project temporarily can use an ABAC system to gain access to critical information and systems. Time-based restrictions in the ABAC model stop sensitive data from being accessed when it’s not needed, preventing data breaches and exfiltration.

#3. Companies with a basic structure

RBAC is a preferable option if the workgroups in your company have a straightforward structure with few roles. Receptionists at a health facility, for example, have access to read and create schedules, but not to patients’ medical histories.

#4. Creative organizations and the media

Creative teams usually need to restrict access in some situations and collaborate on files and papers in others. It is therefore necessary to modify access in this instance based on the nature of the document rather than the function of the person requesting access. The greatest option for this is ABAC.

#5. Small teams

If your organization is small and has few employees and resources, defining permissions based on roles could be simpler. Consequently, an RBAC system may be more effective in this situation.

What Type of Access Control Is RBAC?

Access to resources is determined by role-based access control (RBAC), which often follows business logic. As appropriate, permissions are linked to the role.

Why Is RBAC Popular?

By ensuring that authorized users or visitors are only granted access to what they require to perform their duties, RBAC guarantees that managers and network administrators have more visibility and control over the company. lower expenses.

What Is the Standard RBAC Role?

You can govern who has access to Azure resources, what they can do with them, and which areas they can access with the aid of Azure role-based access control, or Azure RBAC. Owner, Contributor, Reader, and User Access Administrator are the four core Azure roles.

Final Thoughts

The purpose of role-based access control (RBAC) is to prevent unauthorized users from viewing, editing, or erasing sensitive information. It makes information accessible to staff members so they can carry out their duties. Employees receive access rights and permissions according to their work roles and designations. This lessens the possibility of misusing business-critical data.