Trust models in ubiquitous computing

We recapture some of the arguments for trust-based technologies in ubiquitous computing, followed by a brief survey of some of the models of trust that have been introduced in this respect. Based on this, we argue for the need of more formal and foundational trust models

KeyNote: Trust Management for Public-Key Infrastructures

This paper discusses the rationale for designing a simple trust-management system for public-key infrastructures, called KeyNote. The motivating principles are expressibility, simplicity, and extensibility. We believe that none of the existing public-key infrastructure proposals provide as good a combination of these three factors

Distributed access control and the prototype of the Mojoy trust policy language

In a highly distributed computing environment, people frequently move from one place to another where the new system has no previous knowledge of them at all. Traditional access control mechanisms such as access matrix and RBAC depend heavily on central management. However, the identities and privileges of the users are stored and administered in different locations in distributed systems. How to establish trust between these strange entities remains a challenge. Many efforts have been made to solve this problem. In the previous work, the decentralised administration of trust is achieved through delegation which is a very rigid mechanism. The limitation of delegation is that the identities of the delegators and delegatees must be known in advance and the privileges must be definite. In this thesis, we present a new model for decentralised administration of trust: trust empowerment. In trust empowerment, trust is defined as a set of properties. Properties can be owned and/or controlled. Owners of the properties can perform the privileges denoted by the properties. Controllers of the properties can grant the properties to other subjects but cannot gain the privileges of the properties. Each subject has its own policy to define trust empowerment. We design the Mojoy tmst policy language that supports trust empowerment. We give the syntax, semantics and an XML implementation of the language. The Mojoy trust policy language is based on XACML, which is an OASIS standard. We develop a compliance checker for the language. The responsibility of the compliance checker is to examine the certificates and policy, and return a Boolean value to indicate whether the user's request is allowed. We apply our new model, the language and the compliance checker to a case study to show that they are capable of coping with the trust issues met in the distributed systems

Privacy, security, and trust issues in smart environments

Recent advances in networking, handheld computing and sensor technologies have driven forward research towards the realisation of Mark Weiser's dream of calm and ubiquitous computing (variously called pervasive computing, ambient computing, active spaces, the disappearing computer or context-aware computing). In turn, this has led to the emergence of smart environments as one significant facet of research in this domain. A smart environment, or space, is a region of the real world that is extensively equipped with sensors, actuators and computing components [1]. In effect the smart space becomes a part of a larger information system: with all actions within the space potentially affecting the underlying computer applications, which may themselves affect the space through the actuators. Such smart environments have tremendous potential within many application areas to improve the utility of a space. Consider the potential offered by a smart environment that prolongs the time an elderly or infirm person can live an independent life or the potential offered by a smart environment that supports vicarious learning

SPADE: SPKI/SDSI for Attribute Release Policies in a Distributed Environment

Shibboleth is a federated administrated system that supports inter-institutional authentication and authorization for sharing of resources. SPKI/SDSI is a public key infrastructure whose creation was motivated by the perception that X.509 is too complex and flawed. This thesis addresses the problem of how users that are part of a Public Key Infrastructure in a distributed computing system can effectively specify, create, and disseminate their Attribute Release Policies for Shibboleth using SPKI/SDSI. This thesis explores existing privacy mechanims, as well as distributed trust management and policy based systems. My work describes the prototype for a Trust Management Framework called SPADE (SPKI/SDSI for Attribute Release Policies in a Distributed Environment) that I have designed, developed and implemented. The principal result of this research has been the demonstration that SPKI/SDSI is a viable approach for trust management and privacy policy specification, especially for minimalistic policies in a distributed environment

Toward a Broader View of Security Protocols

Computer and network security researchers usually focus on the security of computers and networks. Although it might seem as if there is more than enough insecurity here to keep all of us fully occupied for the foreseeable future, this narrow view of our domain may actually be contributing to the very problems that we are trying to solve. We miss important insights from, and opportunities to make contributions to, a larger world that has been grappling with security since long before the computer was invented

A Survey of Trust in Internet Applications

Trust is an important aspect of decision making for Intemet applications and particularly influences the specification of security policy i.e. who is authorised to perform actions as well as the techniques needed to manage and implement security to and for the applications. This survey examines the various definitions of trust in the literature and provides a working definition of trust for Intemet applications. The properties of trust relationships are explained and classes of different types of trust identified in the literature are discussed with examples. Some influential examples of trust management systems are described

Lessons Learned on Adopting Automated Compliance Checking in AEC Industry: A Global Study

Over the last decades, numerous Automated Compliance Checking (ACC) systems have been developed. However, ACC is still not broadly used in the real world today; little is known as to how ACC can be better accepted by the end users. This paper reports on a multiple-case study to learn valuable lessons from recent attempts to adopt Automated Compliance Checking (ACC) systems world21 wide. Firstly, eighteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty experts from eight countries and supplementary data (e.g. documents, product information, and literature) related to each case were collected. Secondly, the interview and supplementary data were then coded to develop prominent themes. Thirdly, through a cross-case analysis, twelve most determining variables that could influence the ACC adoption were identified. Three path models that explain the interrelationships between these variables and ten propositions that can guide future ACC adoption were deduced. The results indicate that the government should play an important role to facilitate ACC adoption through funding, policies, and incentives. This study also provides valuable information to software vendors for delivering ACC systemsthat meet the needs of the industry, and for innovation managers in the industry to develop appropriate adoption plans for the ACC technology