Keep Your Data Safe and Sound: A Lighthearted Look at Authorization and Access Control
Tags: iam, auth, authorization, introduction
Published: 2023-01-19 18:38:02

---
title: Keep Your Data Safe and Sound: A Lighthearted Look at Authorization and Access Control
published: true
date: 2023-01-15 13:37:14 UTC
tags: IAM,Auth,Authorization,Introduction
canonical_url: https://techdevblog.io/keep-your-data-safe-and-sound-a-lighthearted-look-at-authorization-and-access-control/
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When it comes to building software applications, one of the most important things to consider is how to keep your users' data secure. This is where authorization and access control come in. Don't let the words 'authorization' and 'access control' intimidate you: we're here to make learning a fun and enjoyable experience.

## What is Authorization?

**Authorization** is the process of determining whether a user has the right to access a specific resource or perform a certain action. It ensures only authorized users can access sensitive information or perform certain actions.

## What is Access Control?

**Access control** , on the other hand, is the process of enforcing the rules of authorization. It is the mechanism that actually controls access to resources and actions within an application.

## Why are Authorization and Access Control Important?

Consider a bank's online banking system. If the system did not have proper authorization and access control in place, anyone could access anyone else's account and perform any actions. Such as transferring money. Or viewing account information. This would be a huge security risk and could lead to serious financial harm.

Another example is a social media platform. Without proper authorization and access control, users could access and share private personal information. Or impersonate other users. This could lead to privacy breaches and other security issues.

## Useful Concepts and Vocabulary

- **Authentication** : The process of verifying a user's identity. This is often done by requiring a username and password.
- **OAuth** : An open standard for authorization. It allows users to grant third-party applications access to their resources without sharing their credentials.
- **Single Sign-On (SSO)**: A method of authenticating users by allowing them to log in to multiple systems with one set of credentials. Usually involves OAuth.
- **Permissions** : The specific actions or resources that a user is allowed to access.
- **Policies** : Sets of rules or guidelines (permissions) defining the specific actions or resources a user is allowed to access, and how access should be controlled.
- **Roles** : A set of policies assigned to a group of users.
- **Access Control Lists (ACLs)**: A list of permissions and roles associated with a specific resource or action.
- **Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)**: An access control model that uses roles to determine access. It allows to assign permissions to roles and assign roles to users, which allows for more fine-grained control over access.
- **Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC)**: An access control model that uses attributes of a user, resource, and action to determine access. It allows to express complex access control policies by considering multiple attributes and conditions.

## Implementing Access Control

There are several ways to implement access control in a software application, depending on the specific requirements of the application and the security needs of the organization.

### Access Control Lists

A common for implementing access control is through the use of **Access Control Lists (ACLs)**. An ACL is a list of permissions and roles that are associated with a specific resource or action. This approach is commonly used in file systems and network devices.

ACLs allow for a more fine-grained control of access by allowing specific permissions to be assigned to specific users or groups of users. For example, in a file system, an ACL can be used to grant read-only access to certain files for certain users, while granting read and write access for other users. In a network device, an ACL can be used to control access to certain ports or protocols for certain IP addresses.

ACLs can be used in combination with other access control methods such as RBAC or ABAC. One advantage of using is that they are flexible and can be easily modified to change access permissions. However, they can become complex and difficult to manage when there are many resources and users with different access rights.

### Roles-Based Access Control (RBAC)

Another common approach is to use authentication and **roles**. Users are given roles, and depending on those roles, they have access to certain resources and are allowed to perform certain actions.

Or, in more technical terms, roles are attributed to users, both authenticated and unauthenticated. Users are granted access to and are allowed to perform actions on resources based on the permissions granted by the policies associated with their roles.

### Attributes-Based Access Control (ABAC)

Another approach is to use **attribute-based access control (ABAC)**. In this approach, access is based on attributes such as the user's location, the time of day, or the type of device being used. This allows for more fine-grained control over access and the ability to express complex access control policies.

### OAuth

Another approach is to use a combination of **OAuth** and access control. OAuth is an open standard for authorization that allows users to grant third-party applications access to their resources without sharing their passwords. This approach is used in microservices architectures where the user is authenticated in one service and then the token generated by that service is passed to other services for access control. This allows for secure communication between different services, and ensures that only authorized users can access the resources they need.

A popular library for implementing OAuth is OpenID Connect (OIDC). OpenID Connect is an extension of OAuth that includes an ID token containing user profile information.

### Single Sign-On (SSO)

Another approach is to use a combination of **Single Sign-On (SSO)** and access control. SSO allows users to log in to multiple systems with one set of credentials. This approach is commonly used in organizations where multiple applications are used and it is difficult to manage different login credentials for each application.

### Implementation Conclusion

There are many ways to implement access control in a software application. The specific approach will depend on the requirements of the application and the security needs of the organization. A combination of authentication, **Access Control Lists (ACLs)**, **role-based access control (RBAC)**, and **attribute-based access control (ABAC)**, OAuth, and Single Sign-On (SSO) are common approaches to implement access control.

## Overall Conclusion

We hope you're feeling confident and empowered to tackle the world of software security, thanks to our easy-to-digest guide to authorization and access control. Thanks for joining us on this entertaining and educational journey into the world of authorization and access control. Remember to always keep security in mind when building software, but don't forget to have fun too! Now go forth and keep your users' data safe and sound!

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