The Saga Security System: a security architecture for open distributed systems

We present an overview of the Saga Security System. An agent in the Saga Security System is called a Saga Agent. The authorization model in the Saga Security System (the Saga authorization model) supports the novel concept of a service path and provides uniform and flexible protection appropriate for advanced computational models such as object-oriented systems and cooperative agent systems. The key features of the Saga Security System security mechanism are the use of an access token and a Security Monitor. Access tokens are implemented using public key technology and ensure the integrity of request messages issued by Saga Agents. One can regard the Security Monitor of a Saga Agent as a reference monitor for the agent. The security of a Saga Agent during its traversal over distributed environments is controlled by the Security Monitor integrated with the agent.