What is an essential feature of access control systems?

Access control systems are fundamentally designed to manage and regulate who or what can view or use resources within a computing environment. The essential feature of these systems is their ability to control access specifically to network resources. This involves defining permissions and ensuring that only authorized users are granted access to sensitive data or applications.

By implementing policies that determine how access to resources is granted or revoked, access control systems help maintain security and safeguard information from unauthorized access. They achieve this through methods such as role-based access control (RBAC), discretionary access control (DAC), and mandatory access control (MAC), which are all aimed at keeping resources protected from unauthorized entities.

While storing passwords securely is important for maintaining security, it does not capture the broader capability of managing who can access resources, which is central to access control systems. Similarly, managing the physical security of facilities and monitoring user productivity, though relevant in their own contexts, are not core functionalities of access control systems in relation to securing network resources. Thus, controlling access to these resources is the defining characteristic of effective access control systems.