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Security introduction

Introducing key security concepts in Cognidox

Cognidox follows an "open by default" security model, designed to encourage collaboration and ease of access for internal users. However, for sensitive data or collaboration with external parties, more granular control is essential. This article introduces the key security concepts in Cognidox, including how documents are secured, who controls access, and how security profiles provide flexible permission management.

 

The "Open by Default" Approach

By default, Cognidox is designed to allow users within the system to easily find and access content. This supports transparency and collaboration, especially within departments or project teams. Access is primarily governed by the user’s role in the system.

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When to Lock Things Down

Not all content should be openly accessible. For example:

  • Human Resources documents may contain sensitive employee information.

  • External collaborators such as contractors or suppliers should only see what’s relevant to them.

For these situations, Cognidox provides tools to enforce stricter control.

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Introducing Security Profiles

Security profiles are at the heart of Cognidox’s document access control. They:

  • Group users together.

  • Define what each group can do with specific documents.

  • Are applied directly to documents (not just categories), so security settings move with the document.

You can also set a default security profile for a category to ensure new documents inherit the correct access settings automatically.

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Document Owners and Access Control

Each document can have an owner—typically the business or process lead—who is responsible for:

  • Managing the security profile attached to the document.

  • Ensuring that access is aligned with business needs.

This ownership model supports decentralised control of sensitive information.

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Built-in Roles Within Security Profiles

Security profiles include three types of participants:

  • Managers – can configure the security profile but may not have access to the documents.

  • Owners – can modify the profile and assign managers.

  • Users – have access to the documents based on the rights defined in the profile.

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Security Profiles vs. User Roles

It’s important to distinguish security profiles from user roles:

  • Security profiles determine document access.

  • User roles (e.g. Admin, Guest, Power User) govern system feature access.

Both systems operate in parallel but are used for different purposes.

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Inheriting and Layering Security

You can:

  • Stack multiple security profiles to combine permissions.

  • Prioritise profiles to control which rights take precedence.

  • Apply profiles to both documents and categories for flexibility.

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Further information

Other knowledge base articles

Online help pages

There are plenty of help pages on this topic – just search for "security". Here are some examples:

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