Access Control Models

Access control is a fundamental concept in security. Access control, along with authentication and authorization, is used to grant or deny access to a resource, depending on the security policy and the identity of the requestor. The following sections discuss the three basic access control models.

Discretionary Access Control (DAC)

Discretionary access control is the model used by standard UNIX and Solaris file system permissions models. With discretionary access control, the creator/owner of the information decides who can do what with the information. In other words, the access control is at the discretion of the owner.

Mandatory Access Control (MAC)

Mandatory access control is widely used in military and government ...

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