Peer-to-Peer Object Repository with Integrated Security

"The Air Force's Joint Battlespace Infosphere (JBI) requires a secure, scalable, object repository to support the vision of a globally accessible, secure, distributed information "space." Peer-to-peer (P2P) technology holds significant promise for theselarge-scale information repositories because of its demonstrated scalability and robustness. However, development of a P2P object repository poses these tough challenges: distributed query processing and security.ATC-NY envisions a Peer-to-Peer Object Repository that will exploit innovative strategies for security and distributed query without sacrificing scalability. In Phase I, we will design a prototype of the system and develop an assurance argument as well asdesign a testbed and scalability experiments.Security for the object repository will be based on four concepts: security information encapsulated in JBI objects, capability-based access control, trust management, and k-of-n secret sharing. Our innovation is the proposed synthesis of thesetechniques, especially in the context of a P2P application.The query function of the object repository will be implemented using a combination of mobile agents and distributed, fragmented, replicated indices. Again, this represents an aggressive advance beyond current practice, attractive because of its inherentscalability in the P2P environment. A secure P2P-based object repository that is also scalable and meets performance requirements wi