Access Control System Components

Access controls are a collection of mechanisms that work together to create a security architecture to protect the assets of the information system. The purpose of Access Control Systems are Confidentiality; information is not disclosed to unauthorized individuals or processes, which protects against hackers, unprotected communications, unauthorized users. Integrity; information retains its original level of accuracy, which protects against unauthorized data modifications, system changes, or program changes.

There are numerous techniques and technologies that can be used to implement a secure access control system. Access Control serves, primarily, two purposes:

1. Provides security features that control how users and systems communicate and interact with other systems and resources.

2. Protects resources from unauthorized access and usually determines the level of authorization granted after and authentication procedure has successfully completed.

Identification is the method of ensuring that a subject is who they claim to be. Some examples of identification are, username, PIN, smart card, digital signature or biometric. Authentication is the method of proving the identity, examples of authentication are, password or public key. Authorization is the method of determining if the authenticated user can perform the tasks or access the data requested.