The goal of access control is to keep sensitive information from falling into the hands of bad actors. Cyberattacks on confidential data can have serious consequences—including leaks of intellectual property, exposure of customers’ and employees’ personal information, and even loss of corporate funds.
Access control is a vital component of security strategy. It’s also one of the best tools for organizations who want to minimize the security risk of unauthorized access to their data—particularly data stored in the cloud.
As the list of devices susceptible to unauthorized access grows, so does the risk to organizations without sophisticated access control policies. Identity and access management solutions can simplify the administration of these policies—but recognizing the need to govern how and when data is accessed is the first step.
Once a user’s identity has been authenticated, access control policies grant specific permissions and enable the user to proceed as they intended.