SHPAC: Fine-grained and Multi-platform Supported Access Control System for Smart Home Scenario

In the scenario of multi-user access in smart homes, the platform’s access control mechanism is crucial in ensuring that users can legitimately and appropriately access devices. However, we have found that the permission management mechanisms provided by smart home platforms and the solutions proposed in academic research are insufficient to fully meet the new requirements of access control. This can result in issues such as unauthorized access, inability to coordinate access conflicts, and lack of support for black-box platforms. In this paper, we present SHPAC, a new smart home access control scheme based on Policy-Based Access Control. This scheme not only provides fine-grained permission management, but also supports users in submitting their personalized access preferences, as well as automatic conflict resolution and multi-platform support. We also implemented a prototype system and evaluated the system from the perspectives of black-box platform support, access control performance, and policy management effectiveness. The results show that our design can address the shortcomings of existing solutions, enhancing the flexibility and effectiveness of smart home access control.