Patent ID: 7559080

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: describing one or more links between one or more endpoints with an abstract link description such that, for each link of the one or more links, one or more security goals associated with exchange of message(s) between the one or more endpoints associated with the link are described, the one or more endpoints hosting respective principals networked in a distributed operating environment; automatically generating, from the abstract link description, detailed security policies for enforcement during exchange of messages between the one or more endpoints; and in response to a request for a communication between a first endpoint of the one or more endpoints and a second endpoint of the one or more endpoints, the first endpoint and the second endpoint being Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) processors: automatically generating a model from the detailed security policies, automatically evaluating the model to determine whether the detailed security policies are secure in a distributed operating environment, allowing the communication when the detailed security policies are secure in the distributed operating environment, and denying the communication and outputting a counterexample when the detailed security policies are not secure in the distributed operating environment.