Techniques for Automating Policy Specification for Application-oriented Access Controls

Abstract

By managing the authority assigned to each application, rule-based application-oriented access controls can significantly mitigate the threats posed by malicious code due to software vulnerabilities or malware. However, these policies are typically complex and difficult to develop. Learning modes can ease specification, however, they still require high levels of expertise to utilise correctly, and are most suited to confining non-malicious software. This paper presents a novel approach to automating policy specification for rule-based application-oriented access controls. The functionality-based application confinement (FBAC) model provides reusable parameterised abstractions. A number of straightforward yet effective techniques are presented that use these functionality-based abstractions to create application policies a priori, that is, without running programs before policies are specified. These techniques automate the specification of policy details by analysing program dependencies, program management information, and file system contents.