The Java Applet Security Model: Providing Storage at a Terminal (A Lesson in Passing the Buck)

Java, the Java Virtual Machine, and the Java API have captured the imagination of many programmers in the short time since they have been released. In this paper we examine an aspect of the Java API from a security context. We show that the security model is adequate from the perspective of the implementors of Java but fails to provide the functionality required by users and programmers in the language. A suggestion for providing the facilities required is described. 1 Introduction Applets have been the most exciting aspect of Java development. These programs are supported by web browsers on many platforms and provide a programmable interface allowing significant processing to be performed by the browser rather than the server. Applets have been targeted at providing a front-end processing facility to server programs and their security system has been developed to allow them to perform that function safely. Programmers - having discovered that Applets provide a powerful cross platform..