Restricted Interfaces

Users’ environments can be constructed and controlled, which is another approach

to controlling the objects they have access to. An administrator can create

a user profile that will provide a user’s working environment. This profile

allows the administrator to dictate what icons,menus, applications, commands,

and functionality is available within that environment. It is considered a restricted

interface because the user utilizes the provided environment, desktop,

and profile to interface with the operating system, installed applications, and resources.

Another example of a restricted interface is a database view. A database administrator

can implement database views, which will show only the information

within the database that the user has the necessary access rights to view. So

the payroll department may be able to view employee salary and commission

information, but not individual’s employment records and human resource information.

Different department managers may be able to view their employees’

employment records, but not their salary and commission information. Database

views are controls that allowthe database administrator to logically partition

the database and present these specific pieces to different authenticated users.

The last restricted interface access control technique we look at is a physically

constrained interface. The best example of this type of access control is an automated

teller machine (ATM). These systems have operating systems that have

many more capabilities than transferring, depositing, and withdrawing funds,

but users of these machines are presented only with buttons for these specific

functions and no more. Thus, the physically constrained interface provides limited

options and only a few buttons so any other functions that the operating

system can actually perform are not accessible by regular users.