Enhancing security for selective dissemination of XML document using structure based routing

Abstract

Today many companies and organizations are using the Web as the primary information newlinedissemination means to exchange the confidential and sensitive information. newlineUsing a hierarchical tree structure both in internal as well as external newlinelevel. Such a widespread use of the Web has pushed the rapid development of newlinesuitable standards for information representation. In general, an access control newlinepolicy states that which subjects can access which objects under which modes. newlineOnce access control policies are stated, they are implemented by an access control newlinemechanism. Because XML is becoming the most prevalent means according newlineto which documents and data encoded for distribution among users on the Web. newlineThere is a strong need for models and mechanisms enabling the specification and newlineenforcement of access control policies for XML Documents. Such models and newlinemechanisms are crucial in order to facilitate a selective dissemination of XML newlineDocuments, containing information of different sensitivity levels, among (possibly newlinelarge) user communities. newlineThe work reported in this research builds on an access control mechanism for newlineXML Documents proposed by Bertino. Significant extensions to the access control newlinemodel are the possibility of expressing access control policies based on subject newlinecredentials and the content of XML Documents. Bertino s access control policies newlinespecified in terms of user identifiers and tree structures. This significant extension newlinefor the flexibility it allows for specifying access control policies. Such flexibility newlineis of particular relevance in an open and dynamic environment like theWeb. The newlinesystem checks the authorizations the subject possesses. By these authorizations, newlinevii newlineit returns the subject a view of the requested document containing all and only newlinethose portions for which the subject has a proper authorization. newlineThis research proposes an approach to content dissemination that exploits the newlinestructural properties of an Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Document newlineObject Model (DOM). To provide an efficient dis