A security model for distributed product data management system

Product data management (PDM) and distributed product data management (DPDM) systems have made product data a valuable and available commodity for many different kinds of computing applications in production. However, there are worries that this product data will lead to new security risks, and to the invasion of the DPDM system. It is because all people in a manufacturing enterprise will somehow get in touch with the DPDM system. Dealing with these tremendous amounts of interaction between the system and the various users, the utmost importance is to ensure that all data are secured and all users are under controlled and managed. Therefore, the security of DPDM system has been of great concern to individuals and corporations. The paper discusses the security requirements faced by a DPDM system in different organizational contexts. It is argued that access control requires a workspace stratified user management security model to specify. The prominent supporting features of the system including user organization, workspace and security are outlined. A new mixed approach access model for the system is proposed. In this model, user management and two main classical access control methods, the Lampson's access matrix and Bell and LaPadula (BLP) security labels, are analyzed and adapted to the application with multiple system user and product data in order to support a workspace-oriented DPDM system.