Methods, control entities, and
computer program products for controlling access to structured data or functions of industrial
automation devices, wherein access to data or functions is controlled. Here, data or functions are assigned classifications with specific security levels (0, ..., 3) derived from multiple security levels (0, ..., 3), wherein users or technical entities are assigned user levels derived from a certain number of user levels, wherein, preferably in a matrix manner, access authorizations are specified for multiple or each
security level (0, ..., 3) and multiple or each user level, wherein the access
authorization specifies the restrictions on access to data or functions belonging to the corresponding
security level (0, ..., 3) by the user or technical entity belonging to the corresponding user level, and wherein, according to the specified restrictions, access to data or functions belonging to the corresponding
security level (0, ..., 3) is controlled by the user or technical entity belonging to the corresponding user level. Thus, user or
machine access and
authorization are controlled by the security classification of data or data structures or functions themselves, thereby providing a comprehensive scheme to automatically determine the
authorization for known users or technical entities to access and modify specific data or data structures or functions.