Dynamic access control for ubiquitous environments

Abstract

Current ubiquitous computing environments provide many kinds of information. This information may be accessed by different users under varying conditions depending on various contexts (e.g. location). These ubiquitous computing environments also impose new requirements on security. The ability for users to access their information in a secure and transparent manner, while adapting to changing contexts of the spaces they operate in is highly desirable in these environments. This paper presents a domain-based approach to access control in distributed environments with mobile, distributed objects and nodes. We utilize a slightly different notion of an object's "view", by linking its context to the state information available to it for access control purposes. In this work, we tackle the problem of hiding sensitive information in insecure environments by providing objects in the system a view of their state information, and subsequently manage this view. Combining access control requirements and multilevel security with mobile and contextual requirements of active objects allow us to re-evaluate security considerations for mobile objects. We present a middleware-based architecture for providing access control in such an environment and view-sensitive mechanisms for protection of resources while both objects and hosts are mobile. We also examine some issues with delegation of rights in these environments. Performance issues are discussed in supporting these solutions, as well as an initial prototype implementation and accompanying results. © Springer-Verlag 2004.