[security-dev] Entitlement versus Enforcement Model

Hi All, this is an issue I see more at a client (in the classic client/server paradigm) that the computing industry is moving toward. With the increasing push towards mobility, cloud and REST architectures, I think access control decisions may have to be made where a decision is needed. So instead of making 100 authorization calls to the server, we need a model where one call is made to the server (given user, context etc) and we get back a set of entitlements (or permissions) that need to be applied at the client side. Examples include a mobile client (such as banking) that needs to figure out what aspects of the mobile screen the user is entitled to see and what operations he is capable of performing. The industry has put too much emphasis on the enforcement model (meaning, make 100 authorization calls to the glorified server). There has been almost no models for the entitlement approach. I have prototyped something here: https://docs.jboss.org/author/display/SECURITY/EntitlementsManager The entitlements should be sent in a JSON response. Also, trying to get this standardized in the industry via the OASIS Cloud Authorization TC. https://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/oasis-charter-discuss/201210/msg000... I have a hunch that projects such as Aerogear, Drools, Errai and Infinispan may need this model. Thoughts? Regards, Anil