Benefits of Location-Based Access Control: A Literature Study

Location-based access control (LBAC) has been suggested as a means to improve IT security. By `grounding´ users and systems to a particular location, attackers supposedly have more difficulty in compromising a system. However, the motivation behind LBAC and its potential benefits have not been investigated thoroughly. To this end, we perform a structured literature review, and examine the goals that LBAC can potentially fulfill, the specific LBAC systems that realize these goals and the context on which LBAC depends. Our paper has four main contributions: first we propose a theoretical framework for LBAC evaluation, based on goals, systems and context. Second, we formulate and apply criteria for evaluating the usefulness of an LBAC system. Third, we identify four usage scenarios for LBAC: open areas and systems, hospitals, enterprises, and finally data centers and military facilities. Fourth, we propose directions for future research: (i) assessing the tradeoffs between location-based, physical and logical access control, (ii) improving the transparency of LBAC decision making, and (iii) formulating design criteria for facilities and working environments for optimal LBAC usage.