Social access control language (SocACL)

Abstract

Online Social Networks hold vast amounts of readily accessible personal information leaving them particularly vulnerable to privacy breach attacks [6]. With the impact these breaches varying from simply embarrassing the user, to negatively influencing the decision of potential employers, identity theft and even physical harm it is important that they are addressed. In this research we approach privacy management in OSNs as an access control problem. We propose a formal Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) language; SocACL. SocACL is based on Answer Set Programming (ASP) and allows for policy specification using the most abundant sources of information available in OSNs; user attributes and relationships. This paper outlines So-cACL's core concepts, features, syntax and semantics.