Authentication vs. Authorization: Key Roles in Access Control

Key Takeaways:

What Is Access Control?

Access control is a critical security measure designed to protect organizations from cyber threats. Consider a treasure room filled with valuable assets like gold, diamonds, and precious jewelry. To safeguard these treasures, access is granted only to authorized individuals whose actions can be tracked and monitored. The same principle applies to digital resources and tools.

Access control functions as a gatekeeper between users and the data or resources they seek to access. It defines “who” or “what” can access specific data, information, tools, or even physical devices. By employing authentication and authorization, access control ensures that the right person, at the right time, is granted the appropriate level of access to the necessary resources.

What Are the Two Types of Access Control?

1. Physical Access Control regulates who can enter physical locations such as rooms, data centers, offices, or other facilities. It manages entry to physical IT assets or devices and addresses the operational security needs of an organization. This type of access control also records the credentials used by individuals to access facilities, creating an audit trail that logs entry and exit activities.
2. Logical Access Control focuses on securing digital assets such as files, data, networks, and other online resources. It controls user permissions and defines who has access to various levels of information within an organization’s IT infrastructure.

What Are the Benefits of Access Control?

Access control provides a range of significant advantages, improving both security and operational efficiency. Key benefits include:

1. Enhanced Security: Restricting access to facilities and resources ensures that only authorized personnel can enter secure areas, protecting sensitive data and assets from unauthorized access.
2. Streamlined Guest Management: Access control systems simplify guest management by easily issuing temporary credentials, enabling controlled and monitored visitor access without compromising security.
3. Increased Collaboration and Productivity: By reducing bureaucratic delays, access control systems allow employees to quickly access the data and resources they need, increasing operational efficiency and collaboration across different departments.
4. Comprehensive Auditing and Accountability: Access control systems track and audit user activities, offering detailed records of who accessed specific resources, when, and from where, ensuring accountability and enabling easy reporting.
5. Seamless Integration with Other Systems: Access control solutions can integrate with existing software and tools, maintaining consistency in authentication and authorization protocols across the organization’s ecosystem.
6. Regulatory Compliance: Access control helps organizations comply with data protection regulations like GDPR and HIPAA by preventing unauthorized access, thus reducing the risk of data breaches and ensuring regulatory adherence.

For a more detailed analysis of the benefits and risks of access control, read our comprehensive blog post on Identity and Access Management (IAM).

Authentication vs. Authorization

Access control has two main components: authentication and authorization. Authentication verifies a user’s identity, while authorization determines what that verified user can access within a system.

What Is Authentication?

Authentication is the process by which a system verifies a user’s identity by requiring them to provide credentials such as passwords, security tokens, or biometric data. These credentials serve as proof that the user is who they claim to be. Organizations use this information to compare the provided credentials against records stored in their databases.

If the credentials are valid, the user is granted access to the system and its protected resources. This ensures that only authorized users can access sensitive data, critical systems, and physical locations, effectively keeping unauthorized individuals at bay.

By verifying identities, authentication helps businesses restrict access to confidential information, critical systems like servers and databases, and physical locations such as buildings.

Authentication Methods

Authentication verifies a user’s identity by requiring them to provide credentials. Here are some common methods:

• Password Authentication: This method grants access by requiring a username or ID along with a secret password known only to the user. Various platforms, including social networks and data centers, rely on password-based authentication. However, weak passwords can make systems vulnerable to brute-force attacks.
• Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): 2FA and MFA add extra security layers to verify user identity. These methods typically involve a password and a one-time code (OTP) delivered by text message, an authentication app, or other means. Multiple authentication factors make unauthorized access significantly harder.
• Biometric Authentication: Biometric authentication uses distinct physical traits or behavioral patterns, such as facial recognition or fingerprint scanning, to verify identity. Because biometric characteristics are difficult to forge, this method offers strong security.
•  Smart Cards or Security Tokens: Physical tokens, such as smart cards, store cryptographic keys or digital certificates. Users present these tokens for authentication, and the system verifies the user by comparing the information on the token with the data stored in its database. Possession of the physical device adds an extra layer of security.
• Public Key Infrastructure (PKI): PKI uses asymmetric encryption with public and private key pairs to verify users. The private key is kept secret by the user, while the public key is available to anyone. PKI binds public keys to user identities through digital certificates. Users sign data with their private key, and the system verifies the signature using the corresponding public key. This approach ensures that only users with the correct private key can decrypt and access the data, confirming their identity.

What Is Authorization?

Authorization determines what a verified user is allowed to do within an organization’s resources or systems. It essentially defines a user’s access level, such as their ability to create, edit, or delete files and other resources.

Typically, an access control system manages authorization, ensuring users can only access resources they are permitted to use. This helps prevent data leaks and unauthorized access. Effective authorization assigns permissions based on user roles and business needs, with factors like roles, job functions, group memberships, and organizational structures influencing a user’s authorization level.

Authorization Examples

• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): RBAC assigns permissions based on predefined roles (administrator, manager, employee, etc.). Users inherit the permissions associated with their assigned roles. This simplicity makes RBAC scalable for large organizations.
• Discretionary Access Control (DAC): DAC grants control to the owner of a resource, allowing them to specify who can access it (files, folders, applications) using Access Control Lists (ACLs). While flexible, this model is less scalable for managing access across many users.
• Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC): ABAC grants access based on a variety of user, resource, and situational attributes. This allows for more granular control. For example, an auditor might only be allowed to access financial data during work hours from the office network.
• Mandatory Access Control (MAC): MAC enforces access based on centrally defined security labels assigned to users and resources. A user can only access a resource if their security level matches or exceeds the resource’s label. This model offers strong security but requires central management.

Differences Between Authentication vs. Authorization

If you are seeking a brief overview, here is a quick comparison between authentication and authorization:

Conclusion: Why Authentication and Authorization Are Both Important 

To conclude, authentication and authorization both uniquely and complementarily protect the confidentiality of systems, data, and resources. Authentication grants access to the correct individuals, while authorization appropriately assigns and manages access rights. Despite their differences, people often use authentication and authorization interchangeably, highlighting their interdependence in achieving data security goals. Together, they form the foundation of a strong security infrastructure that protects sensitive and critical digital assets. They also enhance the security of an organization’s overall digital system.

Identity.com

As a blockchain technology startup developing identity management solutions, we understand the value and significance of access control within an organization. More reason for Identity.com’s continued involvement in identity management systems and protocols that contribute to this future. We also belong to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the standards body for the World Wide Web.

The work of Identity.com as a future-oriented company is helping many businesses by giving their customers a hassle-free identity verification process. Identity.com is an open-source ecosystem providing access to on-chain and secure identity verification. Our solutions improve the user experience and reduce onboarding friction through reusable and interoperable gateway passes. Please get in touch or see our FAQs page for more information about how we can help you with identity verification and general KYC processes.