Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) is an access control model that restricts system access based on a user’s role within an organization. Rather than assigning permissions individually to each user, RBAC groups permissions into roles such as "OT Engineer," "IT Admin," or "Third-Party Vendor", and assigns users to those roles. Each role defines a specific set of access rights to systems, applications, or data, ensuring users receive only the privileges required to perform their duties.
RBAC simplifies access management while enforcing the principle of least privilege. By granting users access based on predefined roles, organizations can: reduce the risk of excessive or misconfigured permissions, streamline onboarding and offboarding, improve auditability and compliance alignment, and minimize insider threats and lateral movement.
In critical infrastructure environments, where system downtime or misuse can lead to physical consequences, RBAC ensures that access to OT and ICS assets is intentional, appropriate, and traceable. It enables organizations to define granular access policies based on job function, operational need, location, or department, essential for aligning with NERC CIP, IEC 62443, TSA SD02E, NIS2, and Zero Trust models.
When paired with time-based access, credential injection, and adaptive authentication, RBAC becomes a powerful tool for privileged access governance in both IT and OT networks.
Xona natively enforces Role-Based Access Control as part of its secure access platform. User roles are defined and managed through integrations with enterprise identity providers (e.g., Active Directory, LDAP, or SAML IdPs) and mapped to specific systems, access methods, and time windows.
Each role in Xona defines which systems or protocols (e.g., RDP, SSH, VNC) a user can access, when and how access is granted (e.g., during maintenance windows or shift hours), whether credential injection, multi-factor authentication, or session recording is required, and whether access requires manual approval or moderated oversight.By enforcing RBAC policies at the gateway level, Xona ensures users can only perform actions that align with their operational role, no more, no less. This not only reduces risk but also simplifies access management across diverse teams, remote users, and third-party vendors.