Specifying and enforcing constraints in role-based access control

ABSTRACT

Constraints in access control in general and separation of duty constraints in particular are an important area of research. There are two important issues relating to constraints: their specification and their enforcement. We believe that existing separation of duty specification schemes are rather complicated and that the few enforcement models that exist are unlikely to scale well.We examine the assumptions behind existing approaches to separation of duty and present a combined specification and implementation model for a class of constraints that includes separation of duty constraints. The specification model is set-based and has a simpler syntax than existing approaches. We discuss the enforcement of constraints and the relationship between static, dynamic and historical separation of duty constraints. Finally, we propose a model for a scalable role-based reference monitor, based on dynamic access control structures, that can be used to enforce constraints in an efficient manner.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.4 OPERATING SYSTEMS
      D.4.6 Security and Protection
          Subjects: Access controls

Additional Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.6 SIMULATION AND MODELING
      I.6.0 General

  K. Computing Milieux
  K.6 MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
      K.6.5 Security and Protection (D.4.6, K.4.2)

General Terms:
Security, Theory

Keywords:
authorization constraint, enforcement context, role-based access control, separation of duty constraint