| Abstract: | Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for enhancing security policy
management in the Grid.
Design/methodology/approach – The Grid security policy reconciliation problem is presented. A
generic view on the security policy notion is adopted and the security policy ontology notion is
introduced and used.
Findings – In the course of this work it was found that, in order to enhance security policy
management in the Grid, Grid entities should have the ability to negotiate their security policies. It was
also found that, in order to achieve security policy negotiation, effective security policy semantics
manipulation towards security policy reconciliation is needed. Finally, it was established, through the
use of an example, that if appropriate means are used for security policy reconciliation then
incompatible security policy representations can be transformed into compatible ones.
Research limitations/implications – Research limitations stem from the adoption of a generic
view on the security policy notion and the selection of identification and authentication security
policies as the focal point of the proposed framework. Research implications include the possibility of
examining how existing security policy reconciliation models can be incorporated in this generic
framework. The possibility of investigating how such a framework can lead to a security policy
knowledge management tool for Grid administrators is also demonstrated.
Practical implications – Practical implications of this work include the establishment of a common
framework for security information exchange between Grid entities.
Originality/value – This paper proposes a framework for enhancing security policy management in
the Grid. The proposed framework can be used by researchers as a reference and by security experts in
order to reduce ambiguity concerning the interpretation of security policies expressed in different
forms, by negotiating Grid entities. |
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