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Access Control System and Process for Managing and Enforcing an Attribute Based Access Control Policy
Patent Number: 10,719,617
Abstract
An access control system for managing and enforcing an attribute based access control (ABAC) policy includes: a minimum ABAC implementation that produces a representation access control list in an ABAC policy system; and a local host system that produces a resource repository access control list in the local host system such that the resource repository access control list is based on the representation access control list.
Patent Description
This is a method that centrally manages Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) policies and locally computes and enforces decisions over those policies on objects that are locally protected using Access Control Lists (ACLs). The method is as follows:
- Centrally express an ABAC policy that conforms to the access control rules of the enterprise using a standalone ABAC system.
- Introduce representations of local objects needing protection into the ABAC expression as object attributes.
- Maintain a correspondence between the ABAC representations and the actual objects in local systems.
- Formulate ACLs for representations in accordance with the ABAC policy using policy analytics (i.e., who can access the representation and how).
- Create ACLs on local objects using the ACLs of their corresponding representations.
- As the ABAC policy configuration changes, update the ACLs on affected representations and automatically update corresponding ACLs on local objects.
Features
- Policy support that goes beyond what is feasible through direct management of ACLs
- Simpler authorization management than direct management of ACLs
- Better performance then ABAC in granting or denying user access requests
- Policy analytics beyond what is possible through ACLs
- Enforces ABAC policies in local systems with minimal changes to those systems