In a computer-based system, access control systems are used for identifying, authenticating, authorizing, and audit. If it's a large network that is being managed, like a central banking system or a network service provider a server may be dedicated to perform the access control functions.
Any user of a system first has to be identified. Multiple levels of identification techniques may be used. In an office environment, the common type of computer access system that is used is user id and password. In a banking system, the ATM card and the pin code are the identifiers. In more sophisticated systems, finger prints, retina or iris identification is used along with the user id and password.
The identification is then authenticated by a dedicated server or a server that also controls access. After the authentication, the user is authorised to work on a certain set of applications. Like when using an ATM machine, you are limited to the amount of cash that you can withdraw in a transaction or in a day. When using a credit card, there is a cap on the transaction that you can do.
After a user is authorised to access a certain application in a computerised system, he or she may be restricted to perform only certain actions on it. These levels of access control limit the work a user can do according to their authorisation level. A user may have just read-only access, or read and write access, or execute access or delete access. An audit trail is maintained to monitor system usage by different users.
In a system with multiple users and a heavy load of transactions taking place, a dedicated access control server may be required. The primary and only function of the access control server is to identify and authenticate users, to control and monitor their access rights, to warn and block any attempt at unauthorised use.
A user may have to go through two levels of authentication. The first level would be at the computer or workstation that he or she is working on, and the second level would be the application that is being accessed. An access control server protects an organisations setup from breaching in by unauthorised users.
In today's computer environment, nearly everyone uses the internet. There are very few closed systems in which no outside access is used. These types of closed networks are mostly defense services networks and other highly sensitive networks. In such systems there are no external links that are provided. The access levels in these closed systems are also strictly regulated.
So depending on the network and type of Information technology setup and the sensitivity of the applications, you may need an access control server. This server is the guard or watchdog that protects your setup against unauthorized usage.
The system sizing of the access control server will have to base on number of users, location of systems, and several other parameters. More and more companies are aware of their being vulnerable to malicious attacks by unauthorised users and are using access control servers.
Jeremy Sandcastle is an it expert. Visit for buying cheap Cisco Secure Access Control Server
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