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12 Chapter 1 • General Security Concepts: Access Control, Authentication, and Auditing

Figure 1.1 Viewing the Discretionary Access Control Settings on a Folder

Notice that the administrator account is granted full control permis-
sion for this folder. Check the access settings for other users and groups
that are defined on your machine. You should notice that the system
has full control, but that various other access settings are in place for
different types of access permissions. Within the Windows OS, this is the
area that allows you to control and modify the DAC settings for your
resources.
Similar DAC settings are in place for all files and folders stored on NT
File System (NTFS) partitions, as well as all objects that exist within
Active Directory and all Registry keys.
A similar function is available in most other OSes. As mentioned,
UNIX and Linux use the chmod process to control access through DAC.
NetWare also has a file access system in place that is administered by the
administrator (who has “Supervisor” rights).

Authentication

Authentication, when looked at in its most basic form, is simply the process used to
prove the identity of someone or something that wants access.This can involve

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