Mike White

Access Control in Smart Space Environments

Telecommunications Software and Systems Group (TSSG)
Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT)

Ubiquitous computing represents a departure from traditional computing environments where a predefined set of users interact within the confines of a closed network. The boundaries of both the network and the user set have expanded enormously. Traditional security approaches sought to address security issues in these restricted environments and tended to be identity based. This made sense as users within these environments shared a common goal and this tended to override the need for user privacy. Take for example the scenario of access to a network in a software development organisation, where everyone works towards a common goal e.g. develop a software product. It is not desirable or necessary for a user to anonymously produce code for some product. Because the network and user set are both well defined and restricted, it lends itself to traditional approaches but ubiquitous computing environments posses neither of these characteristics and as such requires a different security approach.