SY0-701 Security Architecture Practice Question
An HR assistant should be able to view employee records, but should not have access to payroll administration or IT server tools. Which access model is best for assigning permissions by job role?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse authentication (biometrics) with authorization (access control), or assume that shared accounts or open access can be secured by policy alone, ignoring the fundamental need for role-based permission segregation.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Role-based access control
Role-based access control (RBAC) is the correct model because it assigns permissions based on job functions rather than individual users. In this scenario, the HR assistant role would be granted read/write access to employee records, while being explicitly denied access to payroll administration and IT server tools, ensuring least privilege and separation of duties. RBAC simplifies administration by grouping permissions into roles, which can be easily assigned or revoked as job responsibilities change.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Role-based access control
Why this is correct
Role-based access control (RBAC) maps permissions to defined job functions rather than to individual identities, so an HR assistant receives exactly the permissions needed for HR tasks—viewing employee records—without elevation to unrelated administrative rights. In NIST's RBAC model, users are assigned to roles, roles have permissions on objects, and session constraints can enforce least privilege dynamically. This aligns with the principle of least privilege and scales cleanly as personnel changes, making it the appropriate access control model for an HR assistant role.
- ✗
Shared local administrator accounts
Why it's wrong here
Shared local administrator accounts give every HR assistant the same set of unchecked, highly privileged credentials on a workstation or server, which violates non-repudiation because any action on the account cannot be traced to a specific user. Because these accounts typically bypass the organization's central identity management and auditing, they also nullify policy enforcement like session timeouts or MFA. Granting full local administrative rights far exceeds what is needed to view employee records, and the shared nature removes accountability and enables insider misuse or credential theft without detection.
- ✗
Open access for all employees
Why it's wrong here
Open access for all employees means the HR record system treats every authenticated user as equally authorized, discarding granular permissions and exposing sensitive personally identifiable information (PII), salary data, and emergency contacts to the entire workforce. This violates the principle of least privilege and likely breaches data-protection regulations such as GDPR or CCPA, which require access controls that restrict data handling to legitimate job duties. It also creates a broad attack surface; a compromise of any low-privileged account would yield full access to HR data since no role-based limits exist.
- ✗
Biometric authentication
Why it's wrong here
Biometric authentication—such as fingerprint or iris scanning—only verifies that the user is who they claim to be (authentication); it does not determine which files, records, or systems that identity is authorized to see (authorization). Unless an access control system like RBAC or ABAC is layered on top, biometric proof of identity is meaningless for protecting employee records because it grants no contextual or role-based limitations on the data. Moreover, biometrics introduce privacy and lifecycle concerns (e.g., revoking a compromised fingerprint) that make them inappropriate as a substitute for authorization controls in HR systems.
Quick reference
Access Control Model Comparison
| Model | Acronym | Who Controls Access? | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discretionary Access Control | DAC | Resource owner | Small teams, file shares |
| Mandatory Access Control | MAC | System / security labels | Classified govt / military |
| Role-Based Access Control | RBAC | Administrator (via roles) | Enterprise environments |
| Attribute-Based Access Control | ABAC | Policy engine (user + resource attributes) | Fine-grained, dynamic policies |
| Rule-Based Access Control | RuBAC | System rules / ACLs | Firewall rules, network ACLs |
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)
Key term
Access control
Access control is the security practice of determining who or what is allowed to view, use, or enter a resource, and under what conditions.
Key term
RBAC
RBAC is a method of restricting network access based on the roles of individual users within an organization, where permissions are assigned to roles rather than to individuals directly.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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