Publication: Open secure mobile agent system
Abstract
GÜVENLİ BİR GEZGİN AJAN SİSTEMİ Gezgin ajanlar, dağıtık uygulama geliştirme konusunda geleneksel istemci-sunucu programlama karşısında çekici bir seçenek sunmaktadır. Her ne kadar gezgin ajanlar konusu yeni olsa da, sürekli olarak deneysel sistemler ve araştırma projeleri ortaya çıkmakta ve bu paradigmanın faydaları incelenmektedir. Önerilen faydalardan bazıları şunlardır: ağ trafiğinin azalması, asenkron etkileşim olanağı, heterojen ortam desteği ve kişiselleştirme. Bu gibi faydalarına rağmen, gezgin ajan teknolojisinin kabul edilip yaygın bir şekilde kullanılmasını engelleyen bazı noktalar bulunmaktadır. Bu noktaların en önemlisi, gezgin ajan sistemlerinde mevcut olan güvenlik tehditlerini önleyici bir tasarım yapısının olmamasıdır. Bu tezde, Açık Güvenli Gezgin Ajan Sistemi (OSMAS) isimli güvenli bir gezgin ajan sistemi anlatılmış ve gerçekleştirilmiştir. Güvenlikle ilgili özellikler, bunları sonradan eklemeye çalışan diğer sistemlerin aksine, sisteme temelde eklenmiştir. OSMAS'ın güvenlik özelliklerinden bazıları aşağıda şunlardır: ağ trafiğinin SSL kullanılarak şifrelenmesi, ağdan gönderilen nesnelerin imzalanıp onaylanması, sunucuların üzerlerinde çalışan ajanlardan korunması, ajanların sunucuda çalışan diğer ajanlardan korunması, ajan tarafından toplanılan verilerin gizliliği ve ajan'ın kodunda veya topladığı verilerde yapılabilecek tahriplerin tespit edilmesi. Ayrıca sistemin kullanılabilirliğini gösteren örnek uygulamalar gerçeklenmiş ve gösterilmiştir. Bu uygulamalardan bir tanesi basit bir gezgin sayaç, diğeri ise e-ticaret uygulaması prototipidir. Gezgin ajan, e-ticaret uygulaması, güvenlik, Java
A SECURE MOBILE AGENT SYSTEM Mobile agents present an attractive option for distributed application development in place of the traditional client-server programming. Although the field of mobile agents is still new, experimental systems and research projects have been appearing and investigating the benefits of this new paradigm. Some of the proposed benefits are reduction of network traffic, asynchronous interaction, support for heterogeneous environments and personalization. Despite these benefits, there are some issues that need to be solved before this technology can be accepted and widely used. The most important one of these issues is the lack of a comprehensive security framework that addresses the security threats present in mobile agent systems. In this thesis, a secure mobile agent system named Open Secure Mobile Agent Architecture (OSMAS) is described and implemented. The security features are included from the beginning of the system development unlike most other systems that try to add these features afterwards. Security features of OSMAS include encryption of network traffic using SSL, signing and verification of objects sent through the network, protection of hosts from the agents by providing a safe execution environment, protection of agents from the other agents on the same host, privacy of the data collected by the agent, and detection of tampering with the agents' code and data. Sample applications that show the usability of the system are also implemented and shown. One of these applications is a simple mobile counter and the other one is an e-commerce application prototype.
A SECURE MOBILE AGENT SYSTEM Mobile agents present an attractive option for distributed application development in place of the traditional client-server programming. Although the field of mobile agents is still new, experimental systems and research projects have been appearing and investigating the benefits of this new paradigm. Some of the proposed benefits are reduction of network traffic, asynchronous interaction, support for heterogeneous environments and personalization. Despite these benefits, there are some issues that need to be solved before this technology can be accepted and widely used. The most important one of these issues is the lack of a comprehensive security framework that addresses the security threats present in mobile agent systems. In this thesis, a secure mobile agent system named Open Secure Mobile Agent Architecture (OSMAS) is described and implemented. The security features are included from the beginning of the system development unlike most other systems that try to add these features afterwards. Security features of OSMAS include encryption of network traffic using SSL, signing and verification of objects sent through the network, protection of hosts from the agents by providing a safe execution environment, protection of agents from the other agents on the same host, privacy of the data collected by the agent, and detection of tampering with the agents' code and data. Sample applications that show the usability of the system are also implemented and shown. One of these applications is a simple mobile counter and the other one is an e-commerce application prototype.