Modeling and enforcing semantic obligations for access control

Abstract

We describe a model in this paper for defining and enforcing obligations in Multiagent Systems for access control purposes, provided that information exchanged between agents is in the form of logical statements. Axioms are expressed in order to annotate the conditions according to which obligations are activated. Reasoning is used in order to correctly infer, for each piece of information involved in a user request, what obligations apply between all the ones specified. We describe the different architectural modules needed for storing and enforcing obligations, while monitoring their fulfillment in the system. An implementation of the model is presented with the use of OWL technology and OWL reasoning. It is applied, in particular, to a real case scenario of eBay auctions.