Tools / Cyber Security Interview Questions
What is the difference between DAC, MAC, and RBAC?
| Model | Who controls access | Typical use case |
| DAC | The resource owner | File permissions on a personal workstation |
| MAC | A central security policy enforced by the OS | Military and government classified systems |
| RBAC | Predefined organizational roles | Enterprise applications like HR or ERP systems |
DAC gives the most flexibility but the weakest guarantees, since any user can grant access to their own files. MAC gives the strongest guarantees because users can't override the policy, at the cost of flexibility. RBAC sits in between, mapping permissions to job roles so access scales with the organization rather than with individual decisions.
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