Efficient selection of access control systems through multi criteria analytical hierarchy process

Access control is the process by which the system grants or denies a request made to it, by the user, for the data it maintains. Often the systems providing the services are open ended and face the access control dilemma. If the beneficiaries of the system are too restricted, then the servicing nature of the system loses flexibility. Otherwise the system with lenient access control policy posses threats to the existence of the system itself. As a remedy several access control models like ACL, DAC, MAC, RBAC and other have been proposed and each of which comes with its own baggage of pros and cons. These models protect only the data against unauthorized access until some access decision is made. On the other hand as the computer systems advance, they present new challenges and the traditional access models do not respond to them effectively. In this paper we have analyzed the existing access control models, compared them and finally provided the statistical criteria for selecting the best model depending upon the users' needs and requirements.