What defines Rule-Based Access Control?

Rule-Based Access Control (RBAC) is primarily defined by its mechanism of granting access based on a predefined set of rules rather than individual user identities or roles. In this model, access decisions are made by evaluating conditions or rules that may relate to the user's attributes, the time of access, the request method, or the resource being accessed. This approach allows for a highly flexible and dynamic access control that can adapt to various contexts or requirements based on the established rules.

In contrast to role-based access control, which assigns permissions based solely on the user's role within an organization, rule-based access control emphasizes conditions and policies that dictate access rights. This makes it particularly useful in environments where access needs to be regulated according to specific criteria or situational contexts, such as in enterprise systems or cloud applications.

The other options describe access control methods that are either too narrow or fail to capture the essence of rule-based systems. For example, identifying access control strictly by user roles does not encompass the broader applicability of rules that RBAC offers. Biometric identification is related to authentication rather than access control itself, and stating that rule-based access control is only for mobile devices is an inaccurate limitation, as these access control mechanisms can be implemented across various platforms.