Security and BI Row-Level Permissions

Like any other security feature, a secure implementation of BI row-level permissions requires that you pay careful attention to the entire environment in order to avoid vulnerabilities in other security layers. For example, if you do not limit physical access to the target data, there is a risk that users will exploit their physical access to circumvent the filters that you define in your information maps. If this is an acceptable risk, then no special measures are needed. This can be an acceptable risk in environments such as the following:

If, on the other hand, you require strict security controls against the possibility of malicious activity on your company intranet, then a more tightly protected configuration is necessary. In such circumstances, it is important to strictly limit physical access to the target tables to prevent direct access by regular users. The goal is to enable regular users to have only mediated access to the target tables. The strategy is as follows:

The initial configuration in a new deployment uses mediated access for BI row-level permissions. The server-side pooled workspace server is used for queries against relational information maps. The following figure depicts this mediation of physical access.

In the initial configuration, mediation is achieved through server-side workspace server pooling. The server’s launch credential retrieves data for all requesting users. The server’s launch credential must have physical access to the data. End-users don’t need physical access to the data. This mediation, in combination with appropriate physical layer access controls, provides some separation, because it prevents users from directly accessing the data under their own credentials.

There are several options for incrementally reducing the likelihood of inappropriate access. For example:

Neither of these options provides comprehensive security, because it is possible for a sophisticated end user to exploit a server-side pooled workspace server and obtain direct (unfiltered) access to the data. For this reason, the secure environment uses a client-side pooled workspace server, instead of a server-side pooled workspace server.