Seraphim's architecture is not constrained to one specific security scheme for securing smart packets and active nodes. This reflective design allows the maximum flexibility for building a secure active network environment. The Seraphim project will identify several leading active network applications to demonstrate the effectiveness of the architecture. The Seraphim group is collaborating with the other group members of Team 4 to demonstrate secure, composable, reliable, and flexible multicast services using the Seraphim security architecture. Designed and implemented a lean reference monitor to provide access control from the EE to the shared NodeOS resources.
Every node has a reference monitor, through which all accesses to node resources occur.
This monitor caches active capabilities for applications on the node. An external policy server fills the cache. Core security services verify the signature of the active capabilities, while the reference monitor evaluates active capabilities, either permitting or denying access to the Node OS resource. The policy server provides an interface between the reference monitor and both the security policies and the security policy framework. The reference monitor obtains roles, active capabilities, and user status reports from the policy server.