Policy-based Access Controls - A trend or a must have?

Spoiler: It's a must have.

This is a short article where I explain the basics of PBAC and give my opinion about why I consider it as something that organizations should not avoid these days.

Grammar check made with Bing chat.

Policy-Based Access Control (PBAC) offers methods for managing access to organizations of all sizes. It’s a dynamic approach that allows administrators to create, implement, and manage access policies based on different criteria like low, medium, or high value assets, location, devices, risk-levels, and more.

The adoption and implementation of PBAC can be considered part of a security model that controls access to resources based on policies. These policies define who can access what resources under which conditions. Unlike traditional access control models, PBAC doesn’t rely solely on roles or attributes; instead, it considers a wide range of factors such as user behavior, risk profiles, and other conditions. All this can be combined to create rich and dynamic policies that could be more or less complex, but at the same time adaptative thanks to real-time and offline behavioral analysis.

PBAC operates on a set of policies that dictate access control decisions. These policies are rules that specify conditions under which access should be granted, with or without additional requirements based on dynamic verifications, or denied. When a user attempts to access a resource, the PBAC system evaluates the request against the policies. If the conditions are met, access is granted; otherwise, it’s denied. These policies can also grant limited access to certain resources until all the checks are passed, for instance.

Some of the benefits of PBAC are:

1. Flexibility: PBAC allows for dynamic and context-aware access control, making it adaptable to changing business needs.
2. Scalability: As organizations grow, so does the complexity of their access control needs. PBAC scales well with this growth, handling large numbers of users and resources efficiently.
3. Security: By considering a wide range of factors in access decisions, PBAC provides a more robust security posture. Plus, as attacks are getting more and more sophisticated and accurate, it's key to have a solution that is backed up by a solid infrastructure and resources that are capable of dynamically scale and rapidly respond.

Should you consider the development of your own custom PBAC solution? Technically speaking, you can do it, but I don’t recommend it because you would be reinventing the wheel, and you probably won’t do it better than the well-known vendors in the market.

As always, I appreciate your reading. If you have any questions, please post them here so everyone can take advantage.

Thanks,

Marcelo.