What is Role-Based Access Control? RBAC Types and Models Explained

RBAC sees system users being assigned roles and through these roles permissions that are needed to perform particular functions. Instead of managing user access rights on a granular level, user access rights are consolidated across various systems into a set of roles. So, for instance, if you work in the finance team, you automatically have one set of defined access rights, which are different from those in the marketing department.    

Managing access rights based on roles makes it clear and straightforward to control access rights for users across large, complex, and distributed IT environments. 

Lack of access control and automated provisioning can be costly for an organization, in more ways than one. It means new employees and contractors are not up and running as quickly as they need to be, may be given access to systems they should not have access to, and are likely to maintain access rights once they change roles or leave the organization, which inadvertently puts the security profile of the company at risk. 

What is RBAC?

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) refers to the restriction of access to parts of a business network based on a person’s defined role within an organization. The heart of effective access control is the ability to enable people to use only the resources necessary to perform their roles, whether that is based on their department, seniority, title, or other.

RBAC rules can be defined in many ways, including RBAC models based on responsibility, authority, or even competency. Under the role-based access control definition, non-IT team members may not have access to sensitive data as it is not necessary for them to perform their jobs but based on seniority, they may require slightly more than more junior members.

Closely monitoring network access is a challenge, but by using role-based access control, companies can secure sensitive data and tightly control access to essential applications.

What are the Different Types of RBAC Models?

There are several types of RBAC models designed to fit different organizational needs. Understanding these can help organizations choose the right model to enhance their access control systems:

Flat RBAC

This is a simple RBAC model where users are assigned roles directly, without any hierarchy or inheritance between roles.

Hierarchical RBAC

In this model, roles are organized in a hierarchy, where higher-level roles inherit the permissions of lower-level roles.

Constrained RBAC

This model adds restrictions like separation of duties (SoD), ensuring that conflicting roles or permissions are kept separate.

Dynamic RBAC

Access is adjusted based on context, such as location, time, or user behavior, providing more flexibility in real-time scenarios.

Attribute-Based RBAC

Here, RBAC is combined with Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC), where roles are assigned based on user attributes, such as department or location.

Task-Based RBAC

Task-based RBAC assigns roles based on specific tasks or workflows rather than static roles, allowing for more granular access control.

By using these models, organizations can align their access management strategies with their operational needs, improving security and operational efficiency.

Role-Based Access Control Examples

An example of role-based access control could include a temporary consultant advising a company on how they can improve their software engineering work processes. Under RBAC, IT decides to create a specific role that allows the contractor to access tools like GitHub and AWS but nothing else.

Other common examples of how role-based access control systems can be used include:

• Marketing – Employees have access to Facebook Ads, Google Analytics, and Google Ads
• Finance – Access to Xero and essential spreadsheets detailing company income and expenditure
• Human Resources – These employees can access Workday and other similar HR tools

In this scenario, each role has specific permissions that align with their job responsibilities. Marketing and HR personnel cannot write, edit, or delete financial information but can have access to it as readers. Financial personnel will have full access, ensuring data integrity and security.

Effectively utilizing a role-based model can secure company resources by creating tightly controlled siloes enabling decision-makers to improve their security.

Benefits of Role-Based Access Control

RBAC covers, among others, role permissions, and user roles, and can address multiple needs of organizations—from security and compliance, to efficiency and cost control.

Reduce complexity

Organizations can use it to reduce both the complexity of assigning user access rights and the associated costs. It makes it possible to review access rights to ensure compliance with various regulations, and to optimize processes so that new employees can be up and running from day one. This is because RBAC predefines which systems the new employee should have access to—all of which are based on his or her role in the organization.

Faster onboarding and off-boarding

The business benefits of RBAC are many. Besides the obvious increase in security across the organization, it increases the business’s effectiveness, which then results in faster onboarding and off-boarding procedures and compliance. This is because it gives the organization a higher level of control and knowledge of who has access to what, and why, as well as reducing administrative work and IT support.

Simple permission management

Implementing role-based access management lets managers apply sets of roles for simple and consistent permission management across numerous systems and users. It supports organizational change management efficiently through automated user permission updates that reflect changes in users’ roles and responsibilities.

Transparency

Role-based access control allows organizations to manage access rights in a structured manner that aligns with their overall business goals and objectives. RBAC lets users match permissions with roles, increase transparency (i.e. documenting requests and approvals), and prepare for audits and compliance reporting with full audit trails.

Streamlined administration

Additional advantages of policy and role management include simple processes for assigning privileges to individual users, and dynamic updates of user permissions according to changes in the user’s HR data, including changes in job function.

Exceptions to the standard access management policies can from there be handled with a consistently high level of control. Users can audit the process history and ensure administrative savings and support for compliance reporting, which helps them efficiently prepare for security audits.

Alternative Access Control Systems

RBAC is just one of multiple popular models for access control that IT managers can use. The alternatives are Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC), Policy-Based Access Control (PBAC), Mandatory Access Control (MAC), and Discretionary Access Control (DAC). But which system is best?

RBAC vs ABAC

In small workgroups, RBAC is better than ABAC, because defining roles in a smaller organization is easy to set up and run. However, when the workforce is spread out across different locations and time zones, ABAC is a better choice because it lets you define permissions by location and office hours on top of job roles, although this could take longer to set up.

RBAC vs PBAC

Unlike RBAC, PBAC determines permissions based on rules and policies, which are subject to change. It also requires fewer IT resources to implement compared to ABAC. However, it may take time to apply broader rules across an organization, whereas RBAC is easier to monitor.

RBAC vs MAC

RBAC assigns permissions based on user roles, while MAC, or Mandatory Access Control, enforces strict access policies managed by a central authority. This ensures high security through the classification of data and user clearance levels, typically used in government or military contexts. But this is less ideal for dynamic business environments, where RBAC’s flexibility and scalability is more desirable.

RBAC vs DAC

DAC, or Discretionary Access Control, allows resource owners to set access permissions, granting more flexibility and user control but potentially leads to less consistent security policies. While RBAC provides a structured approach well-suited for organizations with defined role hierarchies, DAC offers greater individual control and adaptability at the cost of centralized oversight.

There is no single best choice and oftentimes a hybrid or mix of Access Controls that are required.If you’d like more details, read our detailed comparison of the main types of role-based access control systems.

Challenges of Role-Based Access Control

A huge advantage of RBAC is that it makes it relatively simple and efficient to accurately manage access rights across organizations of any size. By assigning users differing roles and permissions within an enterprise, role-based access control:

1. Reduces the risk of human errors
2. Helps to keep up with constant organizational and regulatory changes
3. Aids with compliance and transparency

Accuracy and consistency

Many organizations seek constant control and an accurate overview of users and access across their systems. Managing access rights for thousands of users across an organization, while retaining consistency across the various systems is both complex and time-consuming.

Different regulations

It can be tricky to gain full control of access rights as they are constantly changing in a complex mix of users, IT systems, and organizational structures. Add to that local and international regulations and legislations that continually imply changes, and it ends up being difficult to keep these access rights constantly updated.

Compliance

Today’s cyber threat is high, and public and private organizations alike face the risk of both external attacks and insider threats. At the same time, the compliance demands are higher than ever and fines for non-compliance are equally so—not to mention the devastating effect non-compliance today has on loss of reputation and loss of potential business partners.

Transparency

Regulated organizations can have difficulties enforcing business-level control of access rights, which puts a strain on administrative IT. Furthermore, there is likely a lack of transparency regarding access rights, an inefficient manual administration process, and issues with keeping access rights updated. Role-based access control can support all of this.

Role-Based Access Control Implementation: Tips for Success

The ideal way to take advantage of the benefits of RBAC is to create a system tailored to the needs of the business.

Management teams looking to implement role-based access control must follow a series of concrete steps to make the most of this model:

Assess Current Business Needs

RBAC is a competent resource for enhancing security because it is tailored to the company. Begin by assessing the needs of an organization. During the assessment process, learn about what job functions use which software, different technologies, regulatory requirements, and any industry-specific audit needs.

Collaborate across every department to answer these questions.

Create a List of Roles & Access Rights

Consider what each role requires and determine access levels to create a role-based access control database of what permissions are needed throughout your particular organization. Employees should have access to only what they need on a day-to-day basis. Any group can request one-time access later, which will then be processed by IT or HR.

Then, assign levels of access for each profile. It is crucial that as few people as possible can view and read essential files containing sensitive data.

Evaluate How Roles Can Be Changed

RBAC requires defined principles on adding new identities, removing departing team members, and in what circumstances roles can be altered. There must be a clear set of rules and policies influencing how and when roles may be changed within the RBAC system.

The reason why RBAC works so well is that it is designed to adapt to an ever-evolving security ecosystem.

Integrate Implementation Across Systems

Reduce the workload and limit business disruption by defining a rollout plan that begins with sensitive data and programs before expanding to the wider company.

Create a clear step-by-step plan to achieve full implementation and integration.

Organize Employee Training

What is role-based access control in the context of training? Teaching security principles and educating employees on the benefits of this system to increase user buy-in.

Train a core set of people on how to use the IGA system, such as reviewing access request workflows and RBAC principles that enhance security.

Gradually increase granularity with a top-down approach, beginning with department heads and ending with lower-level employees.

Audit Roles

Continually adapt and monitor why RBAC is so effective within a particular environment. Most companies go through multiple iterations of RBAC before settling on a final system.

Assign specific audit roles or plan to bring in an independent contractor to audit the implementation, integration, and usage of role-based access control.

Role-Based Access Control Best Practices

For optimal implementation, here are a few additional best practices that we’d also recommend organizations to follow:

1. Principle of Least Privilege

Grant users the minimum access required to perform their tasks.

2. Regular Role Audits

Periodically review roles and permissions to ensure they remain aligned with your business’s needs.

3. Enforce Role Simplicity:

Avoid over-complicating roles by grouping similar responsibilities together.

4. Segregation of Duties

Implement roles that limit the ability for any one user to perform critical functions alone, reducing fraud risk.

5. Automation for Efficiency

Use identity governance tools to automate role assignments, access approvals, and monitoring.

6. Continuous Monitoring

Regularly monitor for unusual activity or anomalies in access patterns to enhance security.

7. Integration with Access Certification

Ensure that access rights are regularly certified and updated based on business changes.

8. Provide User Training

Educate employees on RBAC principles to encourage compliance and security awareness.

9. Apply at All Levels

The need for RBAC applies at all levels, even though one might assume that managers, or those in more senior roles, should have access to everything. In fact, it is quite the opposite: the organization’s top layer, the CXO layer, is usually of most interest to hackers. RBAC should be applied universally, and everyone should only have access to the information and resources necessary for their roles.

Emerging Trends in Role-Based Access Control

As organizations increasingly embrace digital transformation, several emerging trends are reshaping the RBAC landscape, such as the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML).

These advancements will enable more dynamic and context-aware access controls, which can then adapt in real-time to evolving security threats and user behaviors.

Conclusion

RBAC is crucial to today’s modern IT management, and it can be transformative for organizations looking to enhance their security and compliance, increase their efficiency and control costs. Beyond streamlining administration, RBAC is an effective way for modern companies and institutions to effectively adapt to evolving security needs.

Ready to enhance your organization’s security and efficiency with RBAC? Omada’s solution adapts to your organization out of the box, while keeping you secure and compliant.