Computer Security Access Control Matrix

1. Computer SecurityAccess Control Matrix

2. States of a Computer System The state of a system is the collection of current values of all components of the system: memory locations, secondary storage, registers etc Protection states are those states that have to be protected. • .P = set of all protection states of the system • .Q = set of all authorized protection states • The system is not secure if the current state is in P - Q • A security policy characterizes the states in Q • A security mechanism prevents the system entering a state in P - Q

3. Access Control Matrix Model A model used to describe the protection states. It characterizes the rights of each subject of the system (entity/process) regarding the objects of the system (entities/processes) in terms of a matrix.

4. Butler-Lampson Model This describes the rights of users s (subjects) over files o (objects) by a matrix A whose rows are indexed By the subjects and columns by the objects. The rights belong to a setR. Each entry a[s,o] of A belongs to R, and is the right of user s over file s.

5. Butler-Lampson Model In this model P is the triple (S,O,A) where S is the set of users, O the set of files, A the Access Control Matrix. R depends on the application.

6. Examples of ACMs file 1 file 2 process 1 process 2 process 1 R, W, O R R, W, E, O W process 2 A R, O R R, W, E, O Here R = { Read, Wright, Own, Append, Execute } process 1 can read/write file 1, read file 2, communicate with process 2 by writing to it, etc

7. Examples: rights on a LAN host names telegraph nob toadflex telegraph own ftp ftp nob ftp, nfs, amil own ftp, nfs, mail toadflex ftp, mail ftp, nfs, amil own Here R = { ftp, mail, nfs, own }, where ftp = the right to access the File Transfer Protocol mail = the right to send/receive using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) nsf = the right to access file systems using the Network File System protocol

8. Examples: rights in a program host names counter inc_ctr dec_ctr manager inc_ctr + dec_ctr - manager call call call Here inc_ctrincreases a counter and dec_ctr decreases it. R = { +, -, call }

9. Other examples • Access Control by Boolean expression evaluation • Access Control by History See textbook

10. Protection State Transitions Initial state of the system X0 = (S0,O0,A0 ) Transitions: t1, t2, … Corresponding states: X1, X2, … We use the notation: Xi├─ti+1Xi+1 to indicate the state transition from Xi to Xi+1 X├─ *Yindicates that starting at X, after a series of transitions the system enters state Y.

11. Protection State Transitions Xi├─ci+1 (pi+1,1 ,…, pi+1,m)Xi+1 Indicates that the transition is caused by the command ci+1 on the parameters pi+1,1 ,…, pi+1,m.

12. The Harrison-Ruzzo-Ullman Model This is based on a set of primitive commands. • create subject s • create object o • enter r into a[s,o] • delete r from a[s,o] • destroy subject s • destroy object o

13. The Harrison-Ruzzo-Ullman Model Example. command create•file(p,f) create object f ; enter owninto a(p,f); enter rinto a(p,f); enter winto a(p,f); end

14. The Harrison-Ruzzo-Ullman Model Example. –conditional commands Suppose process p wants to give process q the right to read file f command grant•read•file1•(p,f,q) if ownin a(p,f) then enter rinto a(q,f); end See textbook for other examples.

15. Copying and owning Rights • copy right(grant right) – augments existing rights • own right Copy right allows its possessor to grant rights (this right is often considered a flag attachment –hence flag right) Own right allows its possessor to add or delete privileges to themselves.

16. Attenuation of privilege The Principle of Attenuation of Privilege says that • a subject may not give rights it does not possess to another subject.