Title: Security architecture and methodology for authorisation of mobile agents

Authors: Awais Shibli, Alessandro Giambruno, Sead Muftic

Addresses: Department of Communication Systems, Royal Institute of Technology, Electrum 418, SE-164 40 Kista, Sweden. ' Batiment Doria B, 8, Boulevard de l'Imperatrice Eugenie, 06200 Nice, France. ' Department of Communication Systems, Royal Institute of Technology, Electrum 418, SE-164 40 Kista, Sweden

Abstract: One approach to authorisation of mobile agents is to use extensible access control mark-up language (XACML) policies by assigning roles to agents and then enforcing role-based authorisation. In this paper we show how traditional XACML polices, used for user access control in distributed environments, can be used for mobile agents| access control. We use such polices to manage delegation of access rights from users to agents, while at the same time following the core principles of the XACML standard. We also propose a combination of policies that map users to their mobile agents and make access control decisions for mobile agents by evaluating complex policy sets. We have identified all architectural components along with the operations required for enforcement of authorisations of mobile agents during execution.

Keywords: mobile agents; authorisation; extensible access control mark-up language; XACML; policies delegation; access rights; agent-based systems; multi-agent systems; MAS.

DOI: 10.1504/IJITST.2010.037405

International Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transactions, 2010 Vol.2 No.3/4, pp.271 - 290

Published online: 06 Dec 2010 *

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