May 2022 Summaries

In the evolving landscape of authorization, traditional XACML, known for its structured approach to Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC), has faced competition from modern alternatives like OPA (Open Policy Agent) combined with OPAL (Open Policy Administration Layer). These newer tools offer a more dynamic and flexible model suitable for the complexities of microservices and cloud-native environments. OPA functions as a general-purpose policy engine, using Rego, a declarative language, to define policies, while OPAL enhances OPA by providing real-time policy and data updates, leveraging GitOps practices. This real-time capability allows for dynamic authorization decisions, keeping OPA's cache consistently updated and ready for prompt access control decisions. This shift reflects a broader trend towards more accessible, code-based policy management, enabling advanced authorization structures that cater to the needs of modern application architectures while supporting low/no-code developers.