What is data access control?
Data access control helps you keep data safe. At the same time, it gives everyone on your team has the appropriate level of access to the data they need to do their job. Even if you have only a few employees, everyone’s access should be different. In this way, you can maintain security and protect confidential information. Let’s talk about how to set up data access controls as a small business.
Different data access control methods
Of course, the best type of access control for a business depends on several factors. For example, the type of data you store, your available IT resources, and how much data protection you need. Briefly, here are a few different data access control methods:
- Role-Based: Base access on each person’s role within the company.
- Temporal: Control access during specific time periods or time-based criteria.
- Hierarchical: Give access based on an organisational hierarchy.
- Attribute-Based: Focus on user behaviour, location, time of day, device type, etc.
- Context-Based: Focused on the broader context in which access requests are made.
Depending on your company’s needs, you might choose just one approach, or even combine elements of many approaches to create a comprehensive and adaptive access control strategy.
Generally, small businesses will benefit from access control solutions that are relatively easy to implement and manage. We suggest you start with role-based access control, combined with the principle of least privilege.
Follow the Principle of Least Privilege
The Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) states that users should only have the minimum level of access necessary to perform their job functions. In brief, it means giving people access to the resources they need to do their work, but no more. Use access controls to keep people from viewing or editing data that is not directly relevant to their responsibilities.
Undoubtedly, this offers data protection benefits, letting you:
- Minimise exposure in case of attack. Even if an attacker manages to steal a user’s passwords or credentials, the damage they can do is limited since they still will not have access to all your data resources and sensitive information.
- Reduce mistakes and prevent insider threats. With limited privileges, careless employees or malicious insiders will likely not be able to seriously harm your company.
- Simplify auditing and monitoring. Fewer permissions make it easier to monitor sensitive data and audit user activity. Identify unauthorised actions more quickly, trace them back to specific individuals and correct them.
Of course, implementing the Principle of Least Privilege involves careful planning, role-based access controls (RBAC), and regularly reviewing and adjusting permissions as roles evolve. Let’s talk about role-based access controls next.
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Set up Role-Based Access Controls (RBAC)
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) is a method of access control based on the principle of least privilege. Basically, it gives people access based on their role and responsibilities within an organisation.
First, think about what access each person needs to do their job. Then, consider the specific actions you will allow to perform with files. For example: Reading, writing, modifying or deleting files.
Next, assign each user a role based on their job description/department, and responsibilities. Finally, give each role the permissions they need to perform their tasks.
Here are some examples of roles in an RBAC system:
Managers
Permissions: Access to employee performance reports, team data, approval workflows.
Accounting
Permissions: Access to financial data, accounting software, budget reports, payroll.
Sales
Permissions: Access to customer data, sales tools, order processing systems.
IT Administrator
Permissions: Access to servers, network configurations, system monitoring tools.
HR Coordinator
Permissions: Access to employee records, recruitment software, onboarding tools.
Marketing
Permissions: Access to contact lists, campaigns, social media logins, analytics.
Executive Team
Permissions: Access to strategic documents, financial reports.
Customer service
Permissions: Access to customer data, customer support tools, ticketing systems.
Warehouse Operator
Permissions: Access to inventory, shipping and receiving records.
Legal
Permissions: Access to legal documents, contracts, NDAs, etc.
Remember that these are just examples, roles and access in your company will be unique to your employees and your business needs. First, take time to think about your company’s needs. Then, regularly review and adjust permissions as roles evolve. The goal is to ensure that each person has the appropriate level of permissions to do their job, and no more.
Pay attention to where you store sensitive data
Naturally, your access controls will not be effective if you do not pay attention to where you store confidential data. Therefore, you must find out where you store sensitive data now.
For this reason, we recommend using DataMapper to get a quick overview of where you store confidential files. It can quickly sort your data by category, location, and age. Additionally, it will show you redundant files you store in more than more location.
Learn more about DataMapper.

Sebastian Allerelli
Founder & COO at Safe Online
Governance, Risk & Compliance Specialist
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