An interoperation framework for secure collaboration among organizations

In this paper we propose a framework for supporting interoperation between access control systems of different organizations in a collaborative environment. We assume that each organization regulates access to resources using the role based access control (RBAC) model. We define the scope of collaboration as the set of shared resources, of shared operations that those resources can execute, and of roles that can execute those operations. We address collaborative scenarios in which the scope of collaboration changes based on autonomous sharing policies of each organization. We assume that resources are mobile and that their operations can be executed only at the location in which they reside. Our framework supports queries about location of resources, of operations that those resources can execute, and of access rights that allow the execution of those operations. In order to support this type of queries, the RBAC policies of the collaborating organizations are integrated into a global RBAC policy that acts as a mediator. Our framework uses the Web Ontology Language (OWL) to represent: 1) the global RBAC policy; 2) the local RBAC policies belonging to different organizations; and 3) relationships between the global and local RBAC policies.