Policy-based labelling: A flexible framework for trusted data labelling

Security labels are utilized for several applications. For instance, cross-domain information exchange can be enabled by associating security labels with data objects and enforcing cross-domain information flow control based on these labels (e.g., using guards). The correctness of the security labels is critical to the overall security of such solutions. To assure the correctness of security labels, this paper proposes a flexible framework for trusted information labelling. The proposed solution represents a novel application of attribute based access control (aka. policy- based access control) principles to data labelling. The proposed framework can utilize content verification/analysis, user/application input, information flow monitoring, and contextual information as a basis for its policy-based labelling decisions.