Supporting Secure Information Flow

Abstract

The authors describe a model to provide access control for information flow that crosses organisational boundaries. The model specifies a distributed access control enforcement approach for workflow objects (e.g., a document assigned to a pre-defined workflow) using software agents and data encryption techniques. Access to restricted content within the workflow object is based on the possession of encryption keys and role enactment. The model relies on trusted software agents to verify and ensure the validity of the workflow object. The authors construct a prototype and report on a case study that demonstrates the feasibility of the proposal.