The Set and Function Approach to Modeling Authorization in
Distributed Systems

Tatyana Ryutov and Clifford Neuman

Information Sciences Institute University of Southern California
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Marina del Rey, CA 90292
{tryutov, bcn}@isi.edu
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Abstract:

We present a new model that provides clear and precise semantics for authorization. The semantics is independent from underling security mechanisms and is separate from implementation. The model is capable of representing existing access control mechanisms. Our approach is based on set and function formalism. We focus our attention on identifying issues and use our model as a general basis to investigate the issues.