Which of the following concepts focuses on ensuring that sensitive data is not accessed by unauthorized users?

Access controls are a fundamental concept in cybersecurity that focus on regulating who can view or use resources within a computing environment. They establish permissions based on user identity and roles, ensuring that only authorized individuals can access sensitive data. By implementing access controls, organizations can enforce security policies that prevent unauthorized access and protect confidential information from being misused or disclosed.

This concept encompasses various methods, including role-based access control (RBAC), mandatory access control (MAC), and discretionary access control (DAC), each serving to restrict access based on predefined security rules. The goal is to guarantee that only those individuals with legitimate requirements to access certain information can do so, thereby enhancing the overall security posture against potential data breaches.

In contrast, the other options, while important in their own rights, serve different purposes. Encryption protects data at rest or in transit by transforming it into a format that can only be read by those with the correct decryption key, but it does not manage who has access to that data. Network segmentation divides networks into smaller pieces to improve performance and security, but it alone doesn’t control who can access sensitive data. Firewall rules act as a barrier to control incoming and outgoing traffic based on predetermined security rules, but they do not specifically address user access within applications or