A framework for establishing, assessing, and managing trust in inter-organizational relationships

Abstract

In this paper, we present an efficient, novel framework for establishing, assessing, and managing trust in inter-organizational relationships, in terms of allowable network sharing, that is based on analyzing an invariance property of a computer network environment. Our goal is to answer the following two questions: (1) From any given host in one network, what level of access, direct or indirect, is implied to each host in another network? This addresses the consequences of connecting two networks on access levels between networks. (2) What are the effects, in terms of access internal to a given network, of connecting to another network? This addresses the consequences of connecting two networks on access levels internal to a given network. Answers to these questions allow an informed business decision to be made as to whether the proposed network sharing should be allowed, and, if so, what the consequences of this network sharing are. We utilize the host-centric model in the design of our model to compactly represent and efficiently analyze the access graphs of shared network environments. We present an efficient algorithm for computing the highest achievable accesses between host pairs that are within a network and that are accessible between the shared networks due to an interconnecting edge. We use the algorithm to assess the consequences of the proposed network sharing accesses.