Use of SAML for single sign-on access to multimedia contents in a peer-to-peer network

Abstract

The Single Sign-on technique (SSO) facilitates the management of authentication and authorization functions in a federation of servers providing access to protected resources. Different approaches to SSO exist, among them the XML-based Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) standard, which has been used in applications such as intranet access within organizational domains. This paper focuses on the use of SAML for authentication and authorization in a project aimed at providing peer-to-peer access to high-definition audiovisual streams. Adaptation of various elements are proposed herein in order to cope with the specific characteristics of SSO in a P2P architecture. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.