The present invention is related to associating a machine or virtual machine instance with an access control right in a cloud-based computing environment. In one aspect, the present invention relates to an apparatus for or a method of associating a machine or virtual machine instance with an access control right in a cloud-based computing environment. In various embodiments, the apparatus is capable of, and the method includes, the following: receiving, in a cloud-based computing environment, a request to perform an action; using an identifier for the machine or virtual machine instance to determine that the received request was sent by, or on behalf of, the machine or virtual machine instance; and identifying an access control right associated with the machine or virtual machine instance making the request, to determine whether to perform the action on behalf of, or grant access by, the machine or virtual machine instance.