Access Control in Discretionary Environments | Information Access Authorization | SSCP Exam

Who Grants Information Access in Discretionary Environments?

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Question

In discretionary access environments, which of the following entities is authorized to grant information access to other people?

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Explanations

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A. B. C. D.

D.

In Discretionary Access Control (DAC) environments, the user who creates a file is also considered the owner and has full control over the file including the ability to set permissions for that file.

The following answers are incorrect: manager.

Is incorrect because in Discretionary Access Control (DAC) environments it is the owner/user that is authorized to grant information access to other people.

group leader.

Is incorrect because in Discretionary Access Control (DAC) environments it is the owner/user that is authorized to grant information access to other people.

security manager.

Is incorrect because in Discretionary Access Control (DAC) environments it is the owner/user that is authorized to grant information access to other people.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The term Data Owner is also used within Classifications as well.Under the subject of classification the Data Owner is a person from management who has been entrusted with a data set that belongs to the company.For example it could be the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) who is entrusted with all of the financial data for a company.As such the CFO would determine the classification of the financial data and who can access as well.The Data Owner would then tell the Data Custodian (a technical person) what the classification and need to know is on the specific set of data.

The term Data Owner under DAC simply means whoever created the file and as the creator of the file the owner has full access and can grant access to other subjects based on their identity.

In a discretionary access environment, the data owner is authorized to grant access to other people. Discretionary access control (DAC) is a security model that allows owners or administrators to control access to objects, such as files or applications, by specifying which users or groups are authorized to access them.

In this security model, the data owner has complete control over who can access their data, and they have the ability to grant or deny access to other individuals or groups. The owner can decide to grant access based on the individual's job role, level of clearance, or other criteria.

While the manager, group leader, and security manager may have some level of influence over access control policies and procedures, they do not have the authority to grant access to specific individuals or groups. This responsibility falls solely on the data owner.

It's worth noting that discretionary access control is just one of several access control models used in information security. Other models include mandatory access control (MAC), role-based access control (RBAC), and attribute-based access control (ABAC).