Security issues of the Trusted Mach system

Author

Branstad, Martha ; Tajalli, Homayoon ; Mayer, Frank

Author_Institution

Trusted Inf. Syst. Inc., Glenwood, MD, USA

fYear

1988

fDate

12-16 Dec 1988

Firstpage

362

Lastpage

367

Abstract

Trusted Mach (TMach) is a message-passing, server-oriented system being targeted at the B3 level of the Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria (TCSEC). The authors present a rationale for why these characteristics, and the TMach architecture that implements and embodies them, are compatible with B3 requirements. It is shown that the TMach TCB (trusted computer base), composed of a kernel (which implements basic system abstractions and mediates their access) and a collection of trusted servers, is structured to provide conceptually simple protection mechanisms. Least privilege and modularity are central to the server-oriented design of the system. Easy extensibility of the TMach TCB to provide trusted applications is an added benefit of the system structure

Keywords

military computing; network operating systems; security of data; B3 requirements; Class B3 TCB; TMach; TMach TCB; Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria; Trusted Mach system; protection mechanisms; server-oriented system; trusted computer base; trusted servers; Access control; Computer architecture; Information security; Information systems; Kernel; Mediation; Operating systems; Permission; Resource management; Yarn;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Aerospace Computer Security Applications Conference, 1988., Fourth

Conference_Location

Orlando, FL

Print_ISBN

0-8186-0895-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ACSAC.1988.113334

Filename

113334