Reference from ESORICS proceedings


Fourth European Symposium on Research in Computer Security (ESORICS 96)

An Authorization Model for Workflows

Vijayalakshmi Atluri, Wei-Kuang Huang

Keywords : Security, Authorization, Workflow, Petri nets

Abstract : Workflows represent processes in manufacturing and office environments that typically consist of several well-defined activities (known as tasks). To ensure that these tasks are executed by authorized users or processes (subjects), proper authorization mechanisms must be in place. Moreover, to make sure that authorized subjects gain access on the required objects only during the execution of the specific task, granting and revoking of privileges need to be synchronized with the progression of the workflow. A predefined specification of the privileges often allows access for more than the time required, thus, though a subject completes the task or have not yet begun the task, it may still possess privileges to access the objects, resulting in compromising security.

(Pages 44-64)


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