Workflow Model for Distributed Access Control

In the distributed computing environments like cloud computing or service computing, users access various services and shared resources hosted by the service providers, to achieve their tasks done efficiently. Authentication and authorization are the two important functions to be performed in this context, to make sure that unauthorized users do not access the distributed system components. In this paper, we analyse the various distributed access control approaches already adopted in this area, considering the advantages and the disadvantages. We propose a distributed access control architecture for the cloud computing paradigm considering the present day requirements of the service consumers and service providers. We also give the workflow model for the proposed distributed access control system in the cloud. A few open issues in the area of distributed access control are also discussed.