Daonity: Protocol solutions to grid security using hardware strengthened software environment

Abstract

A central security requirement for grid computing can be referred to as behaviour conformity. This is an assurance that ad hoc related principals (users, platforms or instruments) forming a grid virtual organisation (VO) must each act in conformity with the rules for the VO constitution. Existing grid security practice has little means to enforce behaviour conformity and consequently falls short of satisfactory solutions to a number of problems. Trusted Computing (TC) technology can add to grid computing the needed property of behaviour conformity. With TC using an essentially in-platform (trusted) third party, a principal can be imposed to have conformed behaviour and this fact can be reported to interested parties who may only need to be ad hoc related to the former. In this paper we report the Daonity system, a TC enabled emerging work in grid security standard, to manifest how behaviour conformity can help to improve grid security. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.