CAFS: A Framework for Context-Aware Federated Services

In this paper we explore two issues: Federated Identity Management and Context-Aware Services. In the last decade or so we have seen these two technologies gaining considerable popularities as they offer a number of benefits to the user and other stakeholders. However, there are a few outstanding security and privacy issues that need to be resolved to harness the full potential of such services. We believe that these problems can be reduced significantly by integrating the federated identity architecture into the context-aware services. With this aim, we have developed a framework for Context-Aware Federated Services based on the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) and extensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML) standards. We have illustrated the applicability of our approach by showcasing some use-cases, analysed the security, privacy and trust issues involved in the framework and the advantages it offers.