How Torsion implements ABAC data access in a cloud-based system

In our last blog we looked at how current ABAC approaches are being held back when it comes to controlling access in dynamic cloud-based unstructured information systems such as MS Teams, Sharepoint, Google Drive and Microsoft 365.

Luckily, the Torsion overcomes the three key problems addressed in the article to enable businesses to benefit from having an ABAC approach for controlling access in cloud-based infrastructure. Here’s how:

Solution 1: Torsion is tolerant of imperfect, fluid organisational structures

Torsion’s in-built ABAC accommodates periods (temporary or permanent) where a user may have multiple roles, assignments or circumstances (such as holiday cover, handover periods etc), giving rise to the need for them to have access  to multiple sets of data. In fact Torsion automatically and gradually ‘decays’ temporary access resulting in access control that more accurately represents the fluid realities of organisational structures.

Solution 2: Torsion moves access control decision making away from technical administrators to data owners

Torsion’s ABAC simplifies making access decisions to such an extent that business users (the users that created the file or piece of information) can make them, without technical support. Business users have a far better understanding of who should have access to the information, and how this should change over time.

By disseminating decision making away from centralised technical administrators, Torsion’s ABAC ensures that a) access control decisions are made by the people who best understand the information itself, and b) the workload of managing decisions is distributed across a wider group of people and therefore possible to maintain.

Solution 3: Torsion overcomes lack of integration support at authorisation layer

Torsion’s ABAC solves the problem of cloud-based unstructured information systems not typically supporting customisation at the authorisation layer by using an additional, automated layer above it. The automation substantially reduces the amount of manual effort and costs required to maintain ACL-based access control mechanisms and allows non-technical business users to consider only their own access control decisions through a very simple user interface.

Summary

Torsion progresses the state-of-the-art, by bringing ABAC approaches to cloud-based unstructured information management systems. It does this by overcoming key constraints such as large volumes of information, complex organisational structures, centralised decision making and technical barriers. For more information, or a free trial of Torsion, contact info@torsionis.com.