The Consul system uses Access Control Lists (ACLs) to secure agents, services, and access points, including the UI, API, and CLI. ACLs operate by grouping rules into policies and associating them with tokens, making it easier to manage access control in production datacenters. To effectively configure ACLs, it's recommended to start with the `Securing Consul with ACLs` guide, which provides a step-by-step approach to bootstrapping the ACL system and creating effective policies. Additionally, managing ACL policies requires understanding minimum required privileges and implementing best practices for policy management and troubleshooting, as well as utilizing Consul CLI commands and APIs to troubleshoot issues and reset the system in case of an emergency.