DiReCT: Dirichlet-based Reputation and Credential Trust management

Access control is one of the most security requirements that face some challenges in multiagent systems due to agents´ autonomy, distribution and communication with strangers. Unlike current access control mechanisms applicable to traditional distributed systems, trust management model provides a more flexible and dynamic access control approach suitable for the nature of multiagent systems, since it depends on agents´ attributes rather than identities. This paper presents DiReCT framework; a Dirichlet-based Reputation and Credentials Trust management framework for multiagent systems, that integrates both reputation-based trust management and policy-based trust management models. We argue such integration can enhance significantly trust management systems. DiReCT uses a Bayesian-based approach through employing Dirichlet reputation system for reputation computation. DiReCT also employs SWRL, a semantic-based rule language, for policy representation and reasoning.