Mandatory Access Control

Formal user access control procedures must be documented, implemented and kept up to date for each application and information system to ensure authorised user access and to prevent unauthorised access. They must cover all stages of the lifecycle of user access, from the initial registration of new users to the final de-registration of users who no longer require access. These must be agreed by IDI. User access rights must be reviewed at regular intervals to ensure that the appropriate rights are still allocated. System administration accounts must only be provided to users that are required to perform system administration tasks.

Access refers to the inflow or exchange of information between a subject(person) and a resource which could be a system, it could also be seen as the unrestricted activity an individual is allowed to perform within any given scenario or environment.

DAC is based on the permissions associated with authentication credentials like a username and password or a smart card system object by way of an access control list.

Mandatory access control is a single user, normally the network admin, who is given access to the users’ rights and privileges. They control access policies and are also in control of choosing which objects and what systems each individual user has access to and what they do not have access to. The access is made in the form of different levels. Each system and all folders containing information are put into a specific classification. The user will be in a certain classification that will only allow them to access data

C1 - Discretionary Security Protection: In this sub division Access Control Lists (ACLs) security which protect User/Group/World. Security will protect following Users who are all on the same security level, Username and Password protection and secure authorisations database (ADB), Protected operating system and system operations mode, Periodic integrity checking of TCB, Tested security mechanisms with no obvious bypasses, Documentation for User Security, Documentation for Systems Administration Security, Documentation for Security Testing, TCB design documentation and Typically for users on the same security level.

Describe how and why authentication credentials are used to identify and control access to files, screens, and systems. Include a discussion of the principles of authentication such as passwords, multifactor authentication, biometrics, and single-sign-on.

3.p16 The purpose of access control is to regulate interactions between a subject and an object, such as data, a network or device

type of access control by which the operating system constrains the ability of a subject or initiator to access or generally perform some sort of operation on an object or target. In practice, a subject is usually a process or thread; objects are constructs such as files, directories, TCP/UDP ports, shared memory segments, IO devices etc. Subjects and objects each have a set of security attributes. Whenever a subject attempts to access an object, an authorization rule enforced by the operating system kernel examines these security attributes and decides whether the access can take place. Any operation by any subject on any object will be tested against the set of

mandatory and discretionary access control policies. ACM Transactions on Information and System Security, Vol. 3, No. 2.

6. Describe (in plain English) at least one type of ruleset you would want to add to a high level security network and why?

Access control rules and procedures are required to regulate who can access IDI information resources or systems and the associated access privileges. This

Role based access control is an ideology through which access to systems is restricted based on authority given. It is used by organizations with a relatively large number of employees ranging from five hundred to one thousand and above (Sieunarine & University of Oxford, 2011). This is implemented through the mandatory access control or through the discretionary access control. These are the only two ways through which role based access control can be implemented.

Access control has been in use before the growth of the technology world. It could involve a simple action as locking a door. A person locks a door to prevent entry to those who are not allowed or authorize to do so. The same can be said about the security involving databases and the controlling of who can have access and what can be accessed. As far as database security is concerned, there are various categories that are involved in access control. The four main categories of access control include: Discretionary, Mandatory, Role-based, and Rule-based access control.

Confidentiality: Access controls help ensure that only authorized subjects can access objects. When unauthorized entities are able to access systems or data, it results in a loss of confidentiality.

Access matrix model: Provides object access rights (read/write/execute, or R/W/X) to subjects in a discretionary access control (DAC) system. An access