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