Towards Differentiated Utilization of Attribute Mutability for Access Control in Ubiquitous Computing

The operational characteristics of ubiquitous computing environments (UbiCom) generate new access control requirements which existing classical access control models fail to support efficiently. However, the Usage Control (UCON) family of models introduces components and mechanisms that seem to be able to partially match the specific requirements imposed by UbiCom environments. In this paper, an evaluation of current access control models based on a brief study of UbiCom access control requirements is presented. Then, a new access control approach that extends UCON towards a differentiated utilization of attribute mutability for easiness of administration, better performance and lower operational cost in UbiCom environments is proposed.