Access control

In security, the term access control refers first to the practice of restricting entrance to a facility or property to authorized persons, and secondly to the mechanisms which keep track of entries (i.e. visitor's logs, security cameras or prevent access by unauthorized persons (i.e. gates, electronic locks, biometrics).

In telecommunication, the term access control has the following meanings:

1. A service feature or technique used to permit or deny use of the components of a communication system.

2. A technique used to define or restrict the rights of individuals or application programs to obtain data from, or place data onto, a storage device.

3. The definition or restriction of the rights of individuals or application programs to obtain data from, or place data into, a storage device. There are several types of access control; for example Role Based Access Control. RBAC.

4. [The] process of limiting access to the resources of an AIS to authorized users, programs, processes, or other systems.

5. That function performed by the resource controller that allocates system resources to satisfy user requests.

Source: from Federal Standard 1037C and from MIL-STD-188 and from the National Information Systems Security Glossary