ISC2 CC Access Controls Concepts Practice Question
A financial services firm grants tellers access to the transaction system only between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on business days, regardless of the teller's role. Access requests outside that window are automatically denied, and the restriction is enforced by a centrally managed policy that tellers cannot modify. Which access control approach is being applied?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that because all tellers share a job title, the control must be role-based rather than condition-driven.
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
✓
Rule-based access control, because access is granted or denied according to a defined condition rather than individual identity.
Rule-based access control makes decisions from objective, administrator-defined conditions rather than from individual identity or job role. Restricting transaction access to a fixed time window on business days is a textbook condition, and it applies to every teller identically while remaining outside user control. The uniformity and condition-driven nature distinguish it from role-based, discretionary, and mandatory approaches.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Mandatory access control, because the system enforces the restriction without user involvement.
Why it's wrong here
Mandatory access control compares sensitivity labels on objects against clearances held by subjects, and enforcement is based on that label relationship. The scenario contains no classification labels or clearance levels. Automatic enforcement alone does not make a control mandatory; the distinguishing factor for mandatory access control is label-based dominance, which is absent here.
- ✗
Role-based access control, because tellers form a job role that shares the same permissions.
Why it's wrong here
Role-based access control assigns permissions according to the duties of a role, and the teller role would indeed determine which functions are available. However, the scenario's restriction is a time window applied uniformly to everyone, not a permission set tied to role responsibilities. The governing factor is the schedule condition, which is characteristic of rule-based control.
- ✓
Rule-based access control, because access is granted or denied according to a defined condition rather than individual identity.
Why this is correct
Rule-based access control evaluates administrator-defined conditions, and the time-of-day and day-of-week window is precisely such a condition. The policy applies uniformly regardless of who the teller is, and users cannot alter it. This matches the defining characteristic of rule-based control, where objective criteria govern the decision.
- ✗
Discretionary access control, because a manager decides which tellers receive transaction access.
Why it's wrong here
Discretionary access control places permission decisions with the data or resource owner, who can grant access at their discretion. Here the restriction is an automated condition enforced centrally, not an owner's judgment about a specific person. The tellers' identities are irrelevant to the time window, so discretionary control does not describe the mechanism.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Access Control Fundamentals
Key term
Role
A role is a named set of permissions that can be assigned to users or groups to control access to resources in an IT environment.
Key term
User
A user is any person, system, or device that interacts with an IT service, resource, or identity system, typically authenticated through credentials and authorized to perform specific actions.
About these practice questions
One of 989 original CC practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official ISC2 exam blueprint
This CC practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISC2 certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CC exam.