Importance

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Abstract

In a distributed data system in which processes running in trusted systems whose results may be proprietary or sensitive in nature may be invoked by operators at remote, untrusted workstations, and in which said processes are provided with locks which do not permit proprietary or sensitive actions unless a request includes a key matching the lock, a method of associating keys with operators is based on each operator's presenting his ID and a valid password at the workstation at the time he logs on to the system, verifying his password in a trusted system, correlating his ID with a role or group of roles he is authorized to fulfill, and retrieving and storing in the memory of the trusted system, associated with the operator's ID, a list of keys (a 'keyring') for each of those roles. The operator's ID is appended to every request he invokes, a process containing a lock interrogates the stored list and will not grant a proprietary action unless the stored list contains a key matching the lock.

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First Claim