Which aspect of cybersecurity involves restricting access based on user roles?

The aspect of cybersecurity that involves restricting access based on user roles is authorization. Authorization is a crucial process that determines what resources a user can access and what actions they are permitted to perform after they have been authenticated. It ensures that users have access only to the data and functions relevant to their specific role within an organization, thereby minimizing the risk of unauthorized access and potential data breaches.

Role-based access control (RBAC) is a common implementation of this concept, where permissions are assigned to specific roles rather than individual users. This not only simplifies management but also enhances security by limiting access based on the principle of least privilege; users are given the minimum level of access necessary to perform their job functions.

In contrast, data backup focuses on creating copies of data to prevent loss, incident response involves managing the aftermath of a cybersecurity incident, and malware detection is concerned with identifying and mitigating malicious software threats. While all these components are essential to cybersecurity, they do not specifically address the management of user access based on roles as authorization does.