Report from the second RADC database security workshop

Abstract

The second RADC (Rome Air Development Center) Invitational Database Security Workshop (held May 15-18 in Bethlehem, New Hampshire) focused on multilevel security issues for Class B3 or A1 database systems. The workshop participants discussed operating system support for secure database systems; database system process privilege; mandatory, discretionary, and need-to-know requirements; modeling issues; auditing; and vendor developments. Perhaps the most valuable part of the workshop was the discussion of the homework problem, a 22-page specification for a multilevel secure (MLS) database. The participants discovered that it is important to know what makes a particular datum classified in order to known how to protect that datum in a secure database system. They also discovered that, for most of the systems under development, the discretionary access controls did not have nearly the flexibility that the application required. It was concluded that discretionary access controls on views are needed, pointing to the need for balanced assurance.<>