MAC

{
  "id": "MLC-T-CYB-002554",
  "term": "MAC",
  "field": "Cybersecurity",
  "definition": "1. A family of secret-key cryptographic algorithms acting on input data of arbitrary length to produce an output value of a specified length (called the MAC of the input data). The MAC can be employed to provide an authentication of the origin of data and/or data-integrity protection. In this Recommendation, approved MAC algorithms are used to determine families of pseudorandom functions (indexed by the choice of key) that are employed during key derivation.\n\n2. A family of symmetric-key cryptographic algorithms that act on input data of arbitrary length to produce an output value of a specified length (i.e., the MAC of the input data). The MAC can be employed to authenticate the origin of the input data and/or provide data integrity protection.\n\n3. A means of restricting access to objects based on the sensitivity (as represented by a security label) of the information contained in the objects and the formal authorization (i.e., clearance, formal access approvals, and need-to-know) of subjects to access information of such sensitivity. Mandatory Access Control is a type of nondiscretionary access control.\n\n4. An access control policy that is uniformly enforced across all subjects and objects within the boundary of an information system. A subject that has been granted access to information is constrained from doing any of the following: (i) passing the information to unauthorized subjects or objects; (ii) granting its privileges to other subjects; (iii) changing one or more security attributes on subjects, objects, the information system, or system components; (iv) choosing the security attributes to be associated with newly-created or modified objects; or (v) changing the rules governing access control. Organization-defined subjects may explicitly be granted organization-defined privileges (i.e., they are trusted subjects) such that they are not limited by some or all of the above constraints.\n\n5. Message Authentication Code.\n\n6. a data authenticator generated from the message, usually through cryptographic techniques. In general, a cryptographic key is also required as an input.\n\n7. A means of restricting access to system resources based on the sensitivity (as represented by a label) of the information contained in the system resource and the formal authorization (i.e., clearance) of users to access information of such sensitivity.\n\n8. A hardware address that uniquely identifies each component of an IEEE 802-based network. On networks that do not conform to the IEEE 802 standards but do conform to the OSI Reference Model, the node address is called the Data Link Control (DLC) address.\n\n9. A cryptographic checksum on data that uses a symmetric key to detect both accidental and intentional modifications of the data.",
  "expansions": [
    "Mandatory Access Control",
    "Media Access Control",
    "Media Access Control Address",
    "Medium Access Control",
    "message authentication code",
    "Message Authentication Codes",
    "Mission Assurance Category",
    "Modification, Access, and Creation"
  ],
  "references": [
    "NIST SP 800-108r1 [August 2022 (Includes updates as of 02-02-2024)]",
    "NIST SP 800-227",
    "NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 4 [Superseded] from CNSSI 4009",
    "NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 4 [Superseded]",
    "NIST SP 800-108 [Superseded]; NIST SP 800-56C [Superseded]",
    "NIST SP 800-15 [Withdrawn]",
    "NIST SP 800-44 Version 2",
    "NIST SP 800-18 Rev. 1 [Superseded]",
    "NISTIR 7711",
    "NIST CSRC Glossary"
  ],
  "url": "https://mlchart.com/terminology/cybersecurity/mac/"
}