The goal of this U.S.-Hungarian cooperative research project between Csilla Farkas of University of South Carolina Columbia and Andras Lorincz of the Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, is to strengthen the theoretical foundation required for a secure web community model that would be self-organizing and support anonymity of the initiator and responder. The joint research plan calls for developing a system architecture that supports collaboration while guaranteeing information confidentiality, integrity, availability and non-repudiation.
To achieve this, the team of senior and junior U.S. researchers with Hungarian counterparts will attempt to integrate existing domain systems to form a complete model capable of supporting security, anonymity and accountability in a single dynamic environment: 1) with relevant security concepts, 2) conforming communication protocols and 3) self-organizing mechanisms. Their integrated model will be based on XML, RDF, and RBAC (Extensible Markup Language; Resource Definition Framework, and Role-based Access Control). Success would enhance users' ability to join online communities and participate in electronic societies while maintaining protected identities or reputations associated with personal pseudonyms. Progress in this area could lead to a refined paradigm for Internet usage and the development of prototype software designed to guarantee personal privacy for Internet users.
This project in computer science fulfills the program objective of advancing scientific knowledge by enabling experts in the United States and Central Europe to combine complementary talents and share research resources in areas of strong mutual interest and competence. Broader impacts include the introduction of U.S. students to the international research community through work at the partner institution and direct involvement in the project's advanced system testing and validation techniques.
