A secure service infrastructure for interconnecting future home networks based on DPWS and XACML

Abstract

Home networks differ from most other networks since they are usually administrated by inexperienced users. Today, protocols such as Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support zero-configuration networking and are used for data-sharing and entertainment. However, security mechanisms are neglected and are not integrated into current UPnP devices. This becomes even more of an issue when we think of future interconnected home networks where many users and devices will interact. A possible successor of UPnP, the Devices Profile for Web Services (DPWS), is built upon the standard Web-Services(WS) stack and thus also provides WS-Security. However, the configuration of fine-grained access rights for DPWS actions (e.g. for browsing through a media collection) is not defined. This paper describes how to use DPWS and the security framework XACML as a basis for a secure service infrastructure for future home networks. Templates for policies can be auto-generated and a trust model based on X.509 certificates is used for identifying devices and for the interconnection of multiple home networks.