2.9 Rights Management

2.9 Rights Management

The concept of authority

In computer systems, a privilege is the right of access granted to a user or group of users to a specific resource or operation. Rights management is to ensure that the right users get the right access to protect the security of the system and the confidentiality of data.

Common Permission Types

In an operating system, common permission types include:

1. Read permission (Read) : Allows the user to view and read the contents of the file or directory.
2. Write permissions (Write) : Allow users to modify, edit or create files or directories.
3. Execute : Allows the user to execute executable files or scripts.
4. Access (Access) : Allows users to access specific system resources or functions.
5. Ownership (Ownership) : Allows users to modify the owner or user group of a file or directory.

Permission representation method

In Unix/Linux systems, permissions are represented by a string of characters, usually a permission string consisting of 9 characters, eg -rwxr-xr-x. Among them, each 3 characters represents a permission group, which in turn represents the permission of the owner (Owner), the user group to which it belongs (Group) and other users (Others).

• The first character indicates the file type, such as ordinary file ( -), directory ( d), etc.
• Subsequent characters in turn indicate read permission ( r), write permission ( w), and execute permission ( x).
• If a permission is not granted, the corresponding character will be displayed as -.

Rights Management Operations

In the operating system, some commands and tools can be used for rights management. The following are common permission management operations:

1. View permissions : Use ls -lthe command to view the permission information of a file or directory.
2. Modify permissions : Use chmodcommands to modify the permissions of files or directories. For example, chmod u+w filewrite permissions will be added to the owner, and chmod go-rx dirread and execute permissions to the directory will be disallowed for group and other users.
3. Modify owner and user group : Use chowncommands to modify the owner of a file or directory, and use chgrpcommands to modify the user group to which a file or directory belongs.

Principle of Least Privilege

In privilege management, it is good practice to follow the principle of least privilege. The principle of least privilege refers to giving users or user groups the minimum privileges required to limit the scope of their access and operations, thereby reducing potential security risks.

The permissions given to users should be precisely assigned according to their needs, and avoid granting excessive permissions to avoid the risk of misuse or data leakage.

Summarize

Rights management is an important measure to protect computer system and data security. Permissions refer to the access rights granted to a user or group of users to a specific resource or operation. Common types of permissions include read, write, execute, access, and ownership. Permissions can be represented by characters, and each character represents the permission of a permission group. In rights management, you can use commands and tools to view and modify the rights of files or directories. The principle of least privilege is to give users the minimum required privileges to limit their access and operation scope and reduce security risks. It is good privilege management practice to follow the principle of least privilege. Proper authority management helps to protect system security and data confidentiality.