Security architecture and methodology for authorisation of mobile agents

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.