M.Sc. / Role-based access control (RBAC) associates roles with privileges and users with roles. These associations are, however, static in that changes are infrequent and explicit. In certain instances this does not reflect business requirements. Access to an object should be based not only on the identity of the object and the user, but also on the actual task that must be performed. Context-sensitive access control meets the requirements in that it also considers the actual task, i.e. the context of the work to be done, when deciding whether an access should be granted or not. Workflow technology provides an appropriate environment for establishing the context of work. This dissertation discusses the implementation of a context-sensitive access control mechanism within a workflow environment. Although the prototype represents scaled-down workflow functionality, it illustrates the concept of context-sensitive access control. Access control was traditionally aimed at physically controlling access to a computer terminal. Large doors were put in place and time was divided between users who needed to work on a terminal. Today, however, physical means of restraining access have to a large extent given way to logical controls. Current access control mechanisms frequently burden the end-users with unnecessary security-related tasks. A user may, for example, be expected to assume a specific role at the beginning of a session, resulting in unnecessary multi-logons. Alternatively, users can automatically play the most senior role that they can hold and consequently receive the permissions associated with that role. The user is therefore trusted to implement the security policy and not misuse granted privileges. It is also possible for an end-user to bypass security functionality inadvertently- end-users do not always remember to do the correct thing. End-users are furthermore not necessarily adequately educated in security principles and may thus regard security-related tasks as hampering the tasks that they regard as being more important.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:2044 |
| Date | 13 February 2012 |
| Creators | Cholewka, Damian Grzegorz |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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