Self-protecting Objects in Multipolicy Federated Databases: A Prototype

A multipolicy secure federated database is a distributed database that allows the various sites to implement different security policies. The policy of a site is then enforced by all sites for data owned by this site. This paper describes a proof of concept prototype of such a multipolicy secure federated database. The prototype implements a multilevel federal security policy—that is a policy that applies to all members of the federation. The individual sites can then extend this policy for data owned by them with discretionary and/or multilevel site security policies. The design of the prototype focusses on the interaction between the modules and services that implement it. The paper argues from these interactions that it is possible to implement the prototype such that it can be trusted. Keyword codes: C.2.4, H.2.5, K.6.5