Using Security Patterns for Modelling Security Capabilities in Grid Systems

We extend previous work on formalising design patterns to start the development of security patterns for Grid systems. We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach with a case study involving a deployed security architecture in a Grid Operating System called XtreemOS. A number of Grid security management capabilities that aid the secure setting-up and running of a Grid are presented. We outline the functionality needed for such cases in a general form, which could be utilised when considering the development of similar large-scale systems in the future. We also specifically describe the use of authentication patterns that model the extension of trust from a secure core, and indicate how these patterns can be composed, specialised and instantiated.