Mandatory Access Control

Why Trust Techopedia

What Does Mandatory Access Control Mean?

Mandatory Access Control (MAC) is is a set of security policies constrained according to system classification, configuration and authentication. MAC policy management and settings are established in one secure network and limited to system administrators.

MAC defines and ensures a centralized enforcement of confidential security policy parameters.

Techopedia Explains Mandatory Access Control

For best practices, MAC policy decisions are based on network configuration. In contrast, certain operating systems (OS) enable limited Discretionary Access Control (DAC).

MAC advantages and disadvantages depend on organizational requirements, as follows:

  • MAC provides tighter security because only a system administrator may access or alter controls.
  • MAC policies reduce security errors.
  • MAC enforced operating systems (OS) delineate and label incoming application data, which creates a specialized external application access control policy.

Related Terms

Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.