Question

Need a paper at least 500 words

Topics to include:

1. The administration of Active Directory
2. The distinction between DAC and RBAC
3. Administration of Users and Computers

Security features of Active Directory

Answer 1

1)

Active Directory (AD) is a directory service that Microsoft developed for the Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows Server operating systems as a set of processes and services. Initially, Active Directory was only in charge of centralized domain management. Starting with Windows Server 2008, however, Active Directory became an umbrella title for a broad range of directory-based identity-related services.

A server running Active Directory Domain Service (AD DS) is called a domain controller. It authenticates and authorizes all users and computers in a Windows domain type network—assigning and enforcing security policies for all computers and installing or updating software. For example, when a user logs into a computer that is part of a Windows domain, Active Directory checks the submitted password and determines whether the user is a system administrator or normal user. Also, it allows management and storage of information, provides authentication and authorization mechanisms, and establishes a framework to deploy other related services: Certificate Services, Active Directory Federation Services, Lightweight Directory Services and Rights Management Services.

2)

Discretionary Access Control

Discretionary Access Control (DAC) allows each user to control access to their own data. DAC is typically the default access control mechanism for most desktop operating systems.

Instead of a security label in the case of MAC, each resource object on a DAC based system has an Access Control List (ACL) associated with it. An ACL contains a list of users and groups to which the user has permitted access together with the level of access for each user or group. For example, User A may provide read-only access on one of her files to User B, read and write access on the same file to User C and full control to any user belonging to Group 1.

It is important to note that under DAC a user can only set access permissions for resources which they already own. A hypothetical User A cannot, therefore, change the access control for a file that is owned by User B. User A can, however, set access permissions on a file that she owns. Under some operating systems it is also possible for the system or network administrator to dictate which permissions users are allowed to set in the ACLs of their resources.

Discretionary Access Control provides a much more flexible environment than Mandatory Access Control but also increases the risk that data will be made accessible to users that should not necessarily be given access.

Role Based Access Control

Role Based Access Control (RBAC), also known as Non discretionary Access Control, takes more of a real world approach to structuring access control. Access under RBAC is based on a user's job function within the organization to which the computer system belongs.

Essentially, RBAC assigns permissions to particular roles in an organization. Users are then assigned to that particular role. For example, an accountant in a company will be assigned to the Accountant role, gaining access to all the resources permitted for all accountants on the system. Similarly, a software engineer might be assigned to the developer role.

Roles differ from groups in that while users may belong to multiple groups, a user under RBAC may only be assigned a single role in an organization. Additionally, there is no way to provide individual users additional permissions over and above those available for their role. The accountant described above gets the same permissions as all other accountants, nothing more and nothing less.

NOTE: As per Chegg policy, I am allowed to answer only 2 questions (including sub-parts) on a single post. Kindly post the remaining questions separately and I will try to answer them. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.