A Location-Aware Access Control Model for Mobile Workflow Systems

Workflow management systems (WfMS) are a special class of information systems (IS) that support the automated enactment of business processes. Meanwhile there are WfMS which allow the execution of tasks using mobile computers like PDA with the ability of wireless data transmission. However, the employment of workflow systems as well as mobile technologies comes along with special security challenges. One way to tackle these challenges is the employment of so locationaware access control to enforce rules that describe from which locations a user is allowed to perform which activities. The data model behind access control in termed access control model (ACM). There are special ACM for mobile information systems (IS) as well as for WfMS but no one that addresses mobile as well as workflow specific aspects. In the article we therefore discuss the specific constraints such a model should be able to express and introduce an appropriate ACM.