Open Problems for Usable and Secure Open Systems

In open computing systems, resources are shared across or- ganizational boundaries in an effort to allow for greater ac- cess to information and easier collaboration between geogra- phically and administratively dispersed groups. Designing adequate access control solutions for these types of systems is a challenging task, as traditional solutions tend to exhi- bit failures or other undesirable behaviors in the face of an ever-growing and constantly evolving user base. To address these types of shortcomings, security researchers have pro- posed the notion of attribute-based access control (ABAC). Though the theoretical and systems issues associated with ABAC are currently being investigated, the human side of ABAC is relatively unexplored. In this paper, we discuss se- veral usability and human factors challenges related to a pro- mising ABAC solution known as trust negotiation