An Information Theoretic Analysis of Architectures for Multilevel Secure Databases.
Janet Aisbett · DBSec · 1996
This paper develops a framework for assessing the security cost of implementations of a class of distributed database architectures, a framework which has previously been lacking in the literature. The value of information in a relational database is first introduced, i.e. a value is ascribed to the thing the security is to protect. In identifying sources of security costs, both the hiding of information from authorised users and the disclosure of information to unauthorised users are considered. Parameters which describe the effects of implementation and system usage on the security of the architecture are then determined. Finally, guidelines for estimating the information values and the implementation parameters required in calculating the security cost model are provided.