Security Architecture for the TEAMDEC System

(ABSTRACT) The prevalence of the Internet, client/server applications, Java, e-commerce, and electronic communications offers tremendous opportunities for business, education and communication, while simultaneously presenting big challenges to network security. In general, the web was designed with little concern for security. Thus, the issue of security is important in the design of network-based applications. The software architecture proposed in this thesis allows for the secure and efficient running of a team-based decision support system, specifically TEAMDEC. Based on the system's requirements and architecture, three types of possible attacks to the system are identified and a security solution is proposed that allows for user authentication, secure communication, and script access control. The implementation of these features will reduce security risk and allow effective use of the valuable system information data. ii Acknowledgements I am deeply grateful to my advisor, Dr. Mark T Jones, for his continued guidance and support throughout this work. Dr. Jones's extensive knowledge and creative thinking were truly invaluable. Midkiff for their comments and valuable contributions as members of my advisory committee. My special thanks to Ms. Qian Chen and Ms. Jing Ma for their contributions to this research project. Finally I want to express my gratitude to my husband, Yu Wang, who gave me his love and emotional support during the past years.