How Is Role-Based Access Control Implemented

Any organization that uses more than a handful of software applications needs to be vigilant about monitoring key systems and resources to prevent unauthorized or fraudulent access. For many, the best approach involves role-based access control, or RBAC—often in tandem with other measures, such as attribute-based access control, or ABAC.

When properly implemented, RBAC provides some compelling benefits, including the ability to streamline operations, reduce costs, and enhance their overall security. 

From a functional standpoint, the core of RBAC centers around two primary objectives: making sure everyone who needs access to a given asset or system has it, while ensuring that anyone who shouldn’t be accessing those same assets or systems are prevented from doing so. This not only helps with keeping assets and systems secure—it also helps companies reduce costs associated with over-provisioning, or paying for software licenses in excess of what the organization actually needs.

So, how do you implement role-based security with RBAC? You’ll want to keep reading, as this article will explore some of the key steps for a successful role-based access control implementation, introducing role-based access control best practices along the way. But we’ll start with the basics.

What Is the Objective of RBAC?

There are three primary objectives of RBAC:

1. Enhanced Security: Defining specific roles and fine-tuning permissions on a role-by-role, asset-by-asset basis helps system administrators to ensure that users can access the resources they need—while preventing unauthorized access.

2. Reduced Software Costs: A successful RBAC implementation helps to reduce the security risks and unnecessary costs associated with over-provisioning, or paying for more software licenses than is necessary.

3. Streamline IT Operations: By leveraging an RBAC solution like Lumos, companies can incorporate automation and self-service features, enabling users to request access to given systems or resources without bogging IT teams down with what can feel like an endless stream of access requests.

Who Is Responsible for RBAC?

From identifying user roles to determining their permissions and levels of access, an organization’s system administrator is typically responsible for its RBAC implementation.

What Are the 3 Components Necessary for Any Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) Assignment?

The process of role-based access control implementation involves defining specific roles within an organization and then determining what assets or systems are necessary to perform that role. Once an individual role has been defined, specific RBAC assignments can be detailed. To be classified as an RBAC assignment, three elements must be accounted for:

• First, the principal must be defined. This refers to a specific user or group that needs to access/use a given resource.

• Next, the role definition determines the specific permissions each principal (or role) should be able to do to or with a given resource.

• Finally, the scope outlines the full range of resources that need to be available for each principal/role, including specific permission levels.

How Do You Implement a Role-Based Access Control System?

Implementing an RBAC system for your organization probably isn’t as difficult as you might think. The process consists of three main stages:

Stage 1: Taking Inventory

What are all of the apps, resources, documents, and tools your employees rely on to do their jobs? Create a comprehensive list, and be on the lookout for services or resources that aren’t being utilized so you can stop paying for things you’re not using.

Stage 2: Creating Role-Based Groups

To save considerable time and energy as you implement RBAC, it’s important to group users based on their roles within the organization. This will enable you to set permissions and controls for groups of similar users, rather than setting individual permissions for each asset or resource.

Stage 3: Setting Role-Specific Permissions

Based on the groups you create, the final stage of initial RBAC implementation involves setting specific permissions for each asset or resource relevant to each role-based user group. 

As you work to determine what role-specific permissions should look like in your organization, there are three key principles to consider: least privilege, separation of duties, and data abstraction.

1. Least Privilege, which involves determining the minimum level of access each user (role) needs for individual assets and resources in order to perform their role.

2. Separation of Duties, the implementation of restrictive internal controls to prevent unauthorized access and misuse of specific assets and resources.

3. Data Abstraction, which groups users by roles and group-assigns access controls and permissions based on those role-based groups, without revealing the exact details and rules behind them.

Additional Considerations

Once you begin implementing RBAC, it should be considered an ongoing process, as opposed to a one-off exercise. Especially as users change roles, individual role definitions evolve, and new applications and resources are adopted by the organization, you’ll want to revisit specific role-based controls and make any updates necessary to maintain the same levels of efficiency and security. 

To do this, you can essentially repeat the three stages outlined in the previous section: take inventory, update role-based groupings, and fine-tune specific permissions.

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What Are RBAC Solutions, and How Do I Choose the Right One for My Business?

There are countless RBAC solutions available for modern organizations to consider. In short, these solutions are tools designed to help companies set and enforce role-based controls effectively. 

Comprehensive RBAC solutions like Lumos provide the widest range of functionality while empowering system administrators with the tools they can use to…

• Streamline and simplify onboarding and onboarding processes through automation
• Empower employees with intuitive self-service tools for their access requests
• Automate their access review processes

A solution like Lumos combines RBAC functionality with features for workflow automation, cost management, and more. It provides an intuitive platform companies can use to design and implement strong access control measures throughout their organization, while without compromising efficiency, productivity, or security.

Are You Ready to Learn More?

If you’re looking for more in-depth information about the basics of RBAC, consider viewing our downloadable RBAC guide, which describes the solution in more depth—including role-based access control best practices. 

You can also browse our website to read impactful customer stories that will give you a better idea of what RBAC implementation looks like for different types of companies, and the positive outcomes our customers have achieved using our solution. You can also book a demo with our team to learn more about our platform and what RBAC implementation with Lumos might look like for your organization.