Architectural support of fine-grained secure computing

Abstract

An architecture especially adept at security support is outlined. The architecture's fundamental information unit is a two-tuple, or ordered pair, consisting of a datum word and an associated security tag. As an atomic information unit, the two-tuple moves around through the architecture in unison as processing proceeds. a security subprocessor always operates on a security tag in synchrony with a fairly ordinary data subprocessor's operation on the associated datum word. The coupled subprocessors provide the overall architecture with efficient, multilevel-secure access control and flow control. The proposed architecture represents the advancement of security technology along a unique combination of three fronts: (1) direct hardware support, (2) fine-grained-to-the-word mediation, and (3) optimal (minimal) result classification.<>