Authentication and Discretionary Access Control in Computer Networks

Abstract This paper proposes a new mechanism for authentication and discretionary access control in networks with decentralized control. Girling's strategy for one-time keywords for authentication forwarding is combined with a proxy login mechanism to obtain a reliable method for network authentication that does not depend on the transmission of passwords. The authentication mechanism is used as the basis for a scheme for network-wide access control lists allowing a user to grant access rights to any other user in a network. These proposals are described in the context of the Digital Network Architecture (DNA), but are in fact applicable to any packet switched network.