Title: Constructing secure mobile agent systems using the agent operating system

Authors: Guido J. Van 't Noordende, Benno J. Overeinder, Reinier J. Timmer, Frances M.T. Brazier, Andrew S. Tanenbaum

Addresses: Department of Computer Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, de Boelelaan 1081, 1081HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. ' Department of Computer Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, de Boelelaan 1081, 1081HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. ' Department of Computer Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, de Boelelaan 1081, 1081HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. ' Department of Computer Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, de Boelelaan 1081, 1081HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. ' Department of Computer Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, de Boelelaan 1081, 1081HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Abstract: Designing a secure and reliable mobile agent system is a difficult task. The agent operating system (AOS) is a building block that simplifies this task. AOS provides common primitives required by most mobile agent middleware systems, such as primitives for secure communication, secure and tamper-evident agent packaging and agent migration. Different middleware processes can use AOS at the same time; effective security mechanisms protect AOS resources owned by different middleware processes. Designed as a portable and language-neutral middleware layer residing between the mobile agent system and the operating system, AOS facilitates interoperability between agent platforms and between different implementations of AOS itself. AOS has been implemented in both C++ and Java. This paper motivates the design of AOS, describes how AOS is used in a mobile agent system, and presents performance measures for an agent transfer protocol layered upon AOS.

Keywords: secure agent middleware design; mobile agents; milti-agent systems; MAS; agent-based systems; security; agent transfer protocol; ATP; audit trails; agent operating systems; secure communication.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIIDS.2009.030435

International Journal of Intelligent Information and Database Systems, 2009 Vol.3 No.4, pp.363 - 381

Published online: 16 Dec 2009 *

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