What is RBAC? How it works and when to use it.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) is an efficient method to manage user permissions in organizations by aligning access privileges with user roles, thereby simplifying administration and enhancing security. RBAC systems can integrate with directories, databases, and identity providers that store and manage user information. This integration allows automatic updates of user roles and permissions as the organization grows or changes. RBAC assigns access rights based on roles and responsibilities within an organization. It simplifies administration by centralizing permission management, improves security by restricting user access to just what they need for their jobs, offers flexibility as it grows with the business, and ensures compliance through "least privilege" implementation. However, RBAC has limitations such as role explosion, inflexibility, maintenance challenges, limited granularity, and separation of duties issues. RBAC is ideal when companies have clear job functions and want to ensure employees only access what they need for their work. It can be too limiting in smaller companies or startups with fluid roles and frequent changes in access needs. In such cases, RBAC should be used alongside more detailed access control models like Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) and Relationship-Based Access Control (ReBAC). Best practices for implementing RBAC include starting small and building up, focusing on job functions rather than individuals, keeping roles simple, and regularly reviewing and auditing the system.