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Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) vs Cloud Governance

November 26, 2021

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) vs Cloud Governance

As companies continue to move their applications and data to the cloud, it is crucial to have proper governance in place to ensure that the cloud environment is secure, compliant, and efficient. Two approaches to addressing this challenge are Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Cloud Governance. Although they share the same goal, these two concepts might not be always interchangeable, and it's important to understand their differences. In this post, we'll compare RBAC and Cloud Governance to help you evaluate which approach suits your requirements.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

RBAC is an authorization mechanism used to manage access to resources based on user roles. RBAC is widely embraced in cloud environments, as it provides a flexible way of granting and revoking access at scale.

RBAC is simpler to understand and can be put in place quickly. It provides access based on predefined roles, and its use greatly reduces the risk of unauthorized access. Furthermore, it simplifies access management for IT admins, and the delegation of tasks is easier.

RBAC Advantages

  • Provides an efficient way of managing access
  • Reduces the risk of unauthorized access
  • Delegation of tasks is easier
  • Well-understood

RBAC Disadvantages

  • Limited granularity
  • A higher level of coordination required among roles
  • Users and roles management may require time-consuming overhead

Cloud Governance

Cloud Governance refers to the principles and practices used by organizations to ensure that their cloud environment complies with regulations, security and performance standards in line with their corporate policies.

Cloud Governance goes beyond access control and takes a holistic approach to managing the entire cloud environment. It examines the underlying infrastructure, processes, and policies to ensure that control is sufficiently granular, from the low-level resource allocation to the management of infrastructure and applications.

Cloud Governance advantages

  • Provides an incisive approach
  • Enhances control
  • Simplifies compliance
  • Streamlines cloud management across hybrid clouds

Cloud Governance disadvantages

  • Increased complexity
  • Requires a deep understanding of the business's governance requirements
  • Can require a significant amount of planning and coordination

RBAC vs Cloud Governance

RBAC focuses on access control, while Cloud Governance is a broader approach that encompasses governance beyond access control. RBAC's advantage is the well-understood, easy-to-implement approach that provides efficient ways of managing access. On the other hand, Cloud Governance provides a more incisive approach to governance, enhances control, and simplifies compliance.

RBAC and Cloud Governance can work together to enhance security and cloud management. For instance, RBAC can be used to control access in a given cloud environment under one governance policy's constraints.

Conclusion

When it comes to RBAC vs Cloud Governance, there's no winner as they are not mutually exclusive. Organizations must implement a properly balanced approach to their cloud management strategy based on their business governance requirements. A decision on using RBAC, Cloud Governance or both together should be made based on comprehensive analysis and a clear understanding of their implementation consequences and results.

Organizations may need to seek a third-party cloud management provider to help with their implementation and strike the correct cloud management balance for their unique setups.

References

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