An integrated access control in heterogeneous distributed database systems

Integrated access control combines mandatory access control (MAC) and discretionary access control (DAC) together, with MAC based on a lattice of sensitivity labels and DAC based on individual and group access privileges. The necessity for integrating MAC and DAC arises in an open, heterogeneous multidatabase system. An integrated access control, which can provide a new and general framework to access control in heterogeneous distributed database systems (HDDBSs), is reported. The integrated access control, placed at the level of global data manager in each site, is used for security enforcement in an HDDBS. The global data manager maintains a data dictionary that contains metadata describing the global schema of the multilevel databases, clearances of users, security classifications of data, and access authorizations. Integrated access control restricts both access to information and the flow of information only in authorized ways