Providing Web Service Security in a Federated Environment

One of the Internet's biggest successes has been the automation of the travel-reservation system. Travelocity, Expedia, and Orbitz have all thrived in a fickle economic sector. The key to their success is Web services, which are exploding across government and industry. A business federation is very similar to a political federation, which is a union of self-governing states united by a central government. Each individual member maintains its individual sovereignty rights while participating as a federation member. Travel sites, therefore, are federations of companies that provide services, yet maintain a separate identity outside the group. Membership in a business federation, however, usually involves much less diplomacy and political discord than a political federation. Business federations must provide security for their day-to-day operations. A comprehensive Web services architecture that incorporates security standards enforces federation security policies and enables critical data exchanges. As such, we must explore ways to create an automated means for each organization to securely pass critical information using a service-oriented approach