Partner Article

How graphs can help modern access management: Part Two

Good access management requires a comprehensive and intelligent system in place that can quickly and accurately identify an individual’s right to view certain information. As workplaces become less driven by hierarchy, access to important information is no longer determined by an employee’s rank, it depends on other factors such as their specific role within the company and certain projects they might be working on. This means a more granular and flexible approach to control is needed. This is where graph databases can help.

By their nature, graph databases are designed to query intricate connected data and can be used to identify problems and patterns in a quick and easy way. For example, when it comes to data access there are many questions that need to be asked:

· Who wants access?

· How are they connected to the company and what is their role?

· Where are they trying to access the data from?

· Have they tried to access this file before?

· Do they work at the company? If so, how long for and at what level?

· Why do they need this data?

This is a lot of information that must be gleaned at once. Taking all of these factors into consideration is complex enough for just one individual, let alone if this needs to be done throughout an organisation, on a daily basis – especially in an age where people expect immediate access to data that is usually requested online. Graphs can answer these queries in real-time, so businesses don’t need to rely on traditional methods such as cache permissions which take longer to process. By storing all of this information and looking at an ‘individual’ connection to other criteria (such as length of time worked at the company and their role), you can determine if that person should be granted access instantly. This identification process is vital in today’s environment where a data leakage of any kind can have disastrous consequences. Such activity is usually traced back to the wrong people, be it internally or externally, having access to sensitive data.

Modern working has arrived, with people expecting data access at the drop of a hat from all over the globe. Coinciding with this is constantly changing data regulation, making access management an increasingly complex (but vital) task. One thing is for certain, traditional methods of access management can no longer provide a robust system that can adapt to the rapid pace of technological change. With graphs, businesses have essential information at their fingertips to identify the right people in real-time and give them the secure access they are entitled to.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emil Eifrem .