REFRACT: A Redaction Filtering Access Control Framework

Rapid, reliable and secure information sharing is critical for achieving better awareness and access to actionable intelligence. The Distributed Common Ground System-Army (DCGS-A) is exposing ever greater volumes of information via the DCGS Integration Backbone (DIB) through web services. Intelligence Community (IC) Directives mandate access to such intelligence information sharing is done securely with privacy guarantees. Although the data products and metadata contain appropriate CAPCO markings, the current deployed DIB systems lack identity and attribute awareness, which create artificially restrictive security boundaries. This prevents commanders and analysts from accessing critical data resulting in diminished net-centric capability and reduced availability of relevant intelligence data. Modus Operandi proposes to develop REFRACT (REdaction FilteRing Access ConTrol), an Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) framework. REFRACT delivers capabilities to create and maintain security policies for fine-grained access control of sensitive data stored in a DIB. REFRACT is powered by an innovative approach to creating, validating the enacting security policy requirements that are expressed in user-understandable syntax. REFRACT will deliver on the mission benefit that can be achieved by enabling true, fine-grained access to multi-level security data products, maximizing the intelligence data visible to the warfighter while avoiding leakage of prohibited data.