OASIS Forms TC to Standardize Security Access Control with XML

[Carol Geyer <carol.geyer@oasis-open.org>]

OASIS Forms Technical Committee to Standardize Security Access Control
with XML

Interoperability Consortium to Develop XACML

Boston, MA, USA; April 24, 2001 — OASIS, the XML interoperability
consortium, announced the formation of a new technical committee to
standardize security access control using XML. The new OASIS eXtensible
Access Control Markup Language (XACML) Technical Committee will define
an XML specification for expressing policies for information access over
the Internet.

"XACML will define the representation for rules that specify the who,
what, when and how of information access," explained Simon Y. Blackwell
of Psoom, chair of the OASIS XACML Technical Committee. "Access control,
which is often called 'rights management' or 'entitlement management,'
determines who can look at something, what they can do with it, the type
of device they can look at it on, etc."

“Security is a very broad area for XML development—there are many
aspects of security that interrelate,” said Karl Best, OASIS director of
technical operations. “This new OASIS XACML Technical Committee will
work in parallel with the existing OASIS Security Services group, which
is concerned primarily with authorization and authentication issues.
Both technical committees are committed to coordinating their efforts
with each other and with other security initiatives in progress.”

Global and inclusive in scope, XACML will bring together and build on
access control specification work already under way worldwide, including
XACL from IBM in Japan and XML-AC from the Department of Information
Technology at the University of Milan, Italy.

Initial members of the OASIS XACML Technical Committee include OASIS
sponsors, Baltimore Technologies, CrossLogix, Hewlett-Packard, IBM,
Jamcracker, Oblix, Reuters, Sun Microsystems and webMethods. Other
companies and individuals are encouraged to participate in the XACML
work by joining OASIS.

About OASIS
OASIS (http://www.oasis-open.org) is the international, not-for-profit
consortium that advances electronic business by promoting open,
collaborative development of interoperability specifications. With the
United Nations, OASIS sponsors ebXML, a global framework for electronic
business data exchange. OASIS operates XML.ORG, the non-commercial
portal that delivers information on the use of XML in industry. The
XML.ORG Registry provides as an open community clearinghouse for
distributing and locating XML application schemas, vocabularies and
related documents. OASIS serves as the home for industry groups
interested in developing XML specifications. OASIS technical work
embraces conformance, security, business transactions, repositories and
other interoperability issues.

OASIS sponsors include Accenture, Access360, Adobe Systems, AND Data
Solutions, Arbortext, Auto-trol, Aventail, Baltimore Technologies, B-Bop
Associates, BEA Systems, Bentley Systems, Boeing Commercial Airplanes,
Bowstreet, Business Logic Corporation, Chrystal Software, Cincom
Systems, Cohesia, Commerce One, Critical Path, CrossLogix, DataChannel,
Dataloom, Deutsche Post AG, Documentum, EADS Airbus, empolis, Engage,
Enigma, Excelergy, eXcelon, Extricity Software, First Call Corporation,
Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Informix, Infoteria, Innodata, Interwoven, IPNet
Solutions, ITEDO Software, Ivis Group, Jamcracker, Logistics Management
Institute, Mediaplex, Mercator Software, Microsoft, Netegrity, NetFish
Technologies, Netscape/AOL, NextPage, NII Enterprise Promotion
Association, Nimble Technology, NIST, Novell, ObjectSpace, Oblix,
OpenNetwork Technologies, Pearson Education, Planet 7 Technologies,
Popkin Software, Reuters, SAA Consultants, Sabre, SAP, SeeBeyond,
Sequoia Software, Silverstream Software, SoftQuad Software, Software AG,
Sterling Commerce, StreamServe, Sun Microsystems, Synth-Bank, Tata
Consultancy Services, The Tamalpais Group, Thomas Technology Solution,
Tibco, US Defense Information Systems Agency, Virtual Access Networks,
Visa International, Wavo, webMethods, Whitehill Technologies, Xerox, XML
Global, XMLSolutions and Xyvision Enterprise Solutions.


For more information:
Carol Geyer
Director of Communications
OASIS
carol.geyer@oasis-open.org
+1.941.284.0403