There are several elements that make up security for your environment. One of these elements is the permissions that control access to your sites and the content in your sites. A new security model and new security features (such as SharePoint groups to control membership, and item- and document-level permissions) make it easy to control who has access to what content in your sites. This chapter explains how security for sites and site content works, and it guides you through making choices about site security.

Another element integral to the security of your environment is how you structure security at the Web application level — choosing authentication methods and specifying the encryption methods to use. For more information, see Plan for and design security (Office SharePoint Server).

In this chapter:

• Plan site security (Office SharePoint Server) helps you understand the elements of site security and how permissions are assigned, and it helps you choose which levels of site security to use in your site collection or subsite.

• Determine permission levels and groups to use (Office SharePoint Server) reviews the available permission levels and groups, and it helps you determine whether you need additional permission levels or groups.

• Define custom permission levels (Office SharePoint Server) helps you create any custom permission levels you might need.

• Choose which security groups to use (Office SharePoint Server) helps you determine which Microsoft Windows security groups and user accounts to use to grant access to sites, decide whether to use the All Authenticated Users group, and decide whether to allow anonymous access.

• Choose administrators and owners for the administration hierarchy (Office SharePoint Server) defines the levels of administration from the server level to the subsite level, and it helps you choose the administrators you need for each level.