Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

In this proposed research program, mobile services (m-services) can be seen as the integration of mobile and services computing such as wireless technologies and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). M-services architectures are built on an insecure, unmonitored and shared environment, which is open to events such as security threats. It is because m-services inherit the known and unknown security weaknesses that are associated with the architecture of wireless technologies and SOA. As is the case with many other applications, the information processed in m-services might be commercially sensitive, so it is important to protect it from security and privacy threats such as disclosure to unauthorized parties. In the context of a long term research program (5-10 years) on mobile services computing security and privacy, this proposed research program focuses on the privacy access control theoretical model with negotiation support for protecting the sensitive information in m-services. The negotiation-enabled model provides for greater flexibility in supporting privacy access control decision-making processes in m-services. This model is particularly important for supporting m-services in a mobile dynamic environment. On the other hand, the major short-term objectives (within 5 years) of this proposed research program are to: (1) develop a theoretical model of privacy policies for m-services; (2) build a privacy access control negotiation model for m-services; and (3) demonstrate the completed model in an illustrative application, e.g., healthcare. This proposed research program aims to support one Ph.D. student and one Master student to conduct the research activities and experiments in the newly research infrastructure called "Research Center for Mobile Healthcare Service Assurance and Privacy" at University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT).