## Levels of Access

UNIX system security permissions tend to function as "all or nothing." It is possible to use UNIX groups to limit specific users to privileged users, but it requires a lot of knowledge on the part of administrators. For example, most UNIX administrators are unaware that there is a special group for operators that allows normally unprivileged users to perform backups without having root access. There are also public domain solutions, such as Sudo, that restrict users to specific categories of privileged commands.

Windows NT provides many levels of user rights that map to specific tasks. For example, you can assign an individual the right to backup files and directories, but deny other privileges, such as restoring the files and directories.

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Last Updated: December 1, 1997