Semantic access control model: A formal specification

Abstract

The Semantic Access Control Model (SAC), built on the basis of separation of the authorization and access control management responsibilities, provides adequate solutions to the problems of access control in distributed and dynamic systems with heterogeneous security requirements. SAC is characterized by its flexibility for accommodating dissimilar security policies, but also by the ease of management and control over a large number of distributed elements and the support for interoperability of authorization mechanisms. In this paper, we present the semantic validation algorithms developed in SAC to detect semantically incomplete or incorrect access control policies. Additionally, the formal model of SAC along with some proofs of its soundness is introduced. This formalization is the basis for additional model checking of the semantic validation algorithms developed. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.