Authorization is at the heart of application security but implementing a reliable and scalable authorization system can feel daunting. To help with that, developers and security teams need authorization solutions that are not only robust but also easy to integrate, maintain and scale as applications grow. In such cases, Cerbos stands out as an innovative authorization platform designed to simplify these challenges while offering flexibility and performance. Let's explore 10 reasons that make Cerbos the perfect partner for your authorization needs.
1. Get started up and running quickly
Cerbos brings a new level of simplicity and speed to authorization, offering features that streamline the integration process. Its human-readable configuration files make defining and managing access policies straightforward and easy to understand by helping with clarity.
With prebuilt SDKs and integrations, Cerbos allows you to quickly connect to your existing systems without writing extensive boilerplate code. This has a huge role in shortening your codebase and consequently reducing the overhead and complexity of implementation. Cerbos additionally provides IDE plugins allowing you to manage policies directly from your development environment. Best of all, you can update your policies in the real-time ensuring that you quickly adapt to new requirements without disrupting your application's working.
2. Flexible authorization that works anywhere
In today's rapidly changing application environments, authorization needs to be as flexible as the applications they protect. Cerbos provides flexible solutions that work with either monolithic, microservices, or hybrid architectures. This allows for smooth transitions as your application architecture changes. For deployment within containerized environments, you can deploy Cerbos within Kubernetes using several patterns namely: service, sidecar, or daemonset. Its edge deployment capabilities provide security and control across distributed environments. With the added WebAssembly (WASM) support, Cerbos can be embedded into any environment allowing you to extend access control even to IoT devices.
3. Multiple access control methods
Building on Cerbos’ flexibility, its support for multiple access control methods allows your applications to adopt the authorization model that best suits your needs. Whether you prefer Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC), Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), or Policy-Based Access Control (PBAC), Cerbos empowers you to implement the appropriate access control method. Additionally, scoped policies allow you to define precise access controls tailored to specific scenarios, making it possible to meet all requirements.
4. Zero trust security model
A core part of the Zero Trust model is granting access only to what is necessary, and Cerbos excels at this through dynamic permission control that is enforced in real-time. This dynamic control allows organizations to manage access requests based on attributes, roles, and changing contextual factors, offering a more responsive and secure approach to authorization. Find out more about this in this resource.
5. Streamlined authorization management via the Cerbos Hub
The Cerbos Hub unifies authorization management by serving as a centralized platform for authorization policy synchronization, monitoring, and testing. It guarantees that all Policy Decision Points (PDPs), regardless of their location, receive real-time updates to maintain consistency across all environments.
Follow the attached link to know more about PDPs in case you are unfamiliar with them.
The Hub also has powerful monitoring tools that provide a unified view of all logs and an audit trail. These monitoring tools capture every policy decision, its reasoning, and the policy version in use, allowing teams to easily track authorization activities and maintain policy compliance.
Through its collaborative features, teams can edit and review policies using a web-based IDE. The IDE contains a policy-creation wizard and a playground that is used for testing and validating policies. To further enhance testing, the Hub's CI pipeline executes all policy tests before deployment, verifying that they meet expected standards and align with DevOps workflows.
We will touch further on the Cerbos Playground and how Cerbos aligns with DevOps principles in later sections.
This centralized approach simplifies authorization management and creates a strong foundation for scalable and secure authorization practices.
6. Built-in Policy Testing
Cerbos empowers developers with the ability to write tests for authorization policies and execute them as part of the compilation process. These tests, defined using the YAML format, confirm that your policies function as intended before being applied to production. By incorporating policy tests into your CI pipeline, you can confidently push policy changes knowing that they will not introduce any unforeseen issues or vulnerabilities into your application.
7. Experiment with your policies using the Cerbos Playground
Cerbos has a playground, which is an interactive environment for creating, testing, and refining authorization policies in real-time, without the need for any setup or installation. To accelerate workflows, the playground includes prebuilt policy examples, helping you quickly customize policies to fit your needs. Testing of policies in a sandboxed environment safeguards production systems from unintended changes.
Cerbos playground provision caters to both open-source PDP and Cerbos Hub users. Open-source users can use the public playground: a web-based tool that allows them to experiment with policies and export them directly to their repositories. For the Cerbos Hub users, the playground extends its capabilities by offering a private environment with live PDP connections and the ability to create unlimited playgrounds.
8. Support for DevOps
Cerbos revolutionizes the way DevOps teams manage authorization by supporting CI/CD integration. Teams can implement workflows where access control policies are continuously tested and deployed with confidence. Through the Cerbos Hub, every policy change is subjected to strict testing. This is synergised by the built-in policy testing support earlier mentioned.
The ability to configure deployments based on branches or commits empowers teams to tailor rollouts to their specific requirements.
By enabling collaboration through its tooling, Cerbos makes authorization policy management a crucial component of your team's DevOps lifecycle.
9. Scalability tailored to your applications
Cerbos offers a highly scalable authorization solution that adapts to your application's unique growth needs. Its stateless and decoupled design makes it easy to scale in any direction, from on-premise setups to edge deployments.
Cerbos seamlessly integrates with your evolving architecture, supporting microservices, monolith, and hybrid environments.
Through the Cerbos Hub, Cerbos guarantees consistency in authorization management as your application grows.
It also gives you the flexibility to deploy it using various models as highlighted earlier.
10. Reliable support for all of your challenges
Cerbos provides reliable support so that you never face challenges alone. Its dedicated engineers are available on call to provide expert assistance whenever you need it. In addition to the personalized support, Cerbos provides comprehensive documentation that covers every aspect of the platform. Finally, there is an active Slack community of Cerbos users and the core Cerbos team. The community is an invaluable resource where you can exchange ideas and ask questions.
Final thoughts
Authorization isn't just about granting or denying access. It's about building secure and scalable systems that can adapt to the complexities of modern applications. Cerbos redefines how organizations approach access control, combining cutting-edge technology with user-centric features.
This article listed 10 reasons why you should consider using Cerbos as your authorization provider. In summary, Cerbos offers a comprehensive, flexible, and scalable solution for managing authorization across your applications through:
Its quick integration process, with human-readable configuration files and prebuilt SDKs, allowing you to get up and running without delay.
Its broad compatibility with various architectures and deployment models making it adapt to your evolving needs.
Supporting multiple access control methods giving you the flexibility to define precise, context-aware policies.
The platform's robust security framework, based on the Zero Trust model, which dynamically validates every access request, minimizing potential security vulnerabilities.
The Cerbos Hub which makes authorization management become streamlined by providing real-time policy synchronization, comprehensive monitoring, and collaborative policy management.
Its built-in policy testing that makes your authorization system reliable, secure, and developer-friendly.
Its support for DevOps workflows, facilitating continuous policy validation, deployment, and collaboration.
The Cerbos Playground which offers a safe, interactive environment for testing and refining policies.
Excellent customer support through its engineers, detailed documentation, and a thriving community meaning you are never left to tackle challenges alone.
By choosing Cerbos, you’re not just selecting a robust authorization platform, you're embracing a solution that grows with your application, adapts to your development processes, and strengthens your security posture.
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