Access Policy Generator Automating Security Rules From Examples
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Solution Overview
Problem
As the complexity of managing access to multiple network-based resources increases, existing methods become time-consuming and error-prone for users to create or edit access management policies, leading to potential unintended failures due to manual edits.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a policy generator within an identity and access management system that automatically generates new access management policies from example requests, allowing users to specify positive and negative scenarios, and detecting conflicts with existing policies to optimize policy enforcement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If users manually create or edit access management policies, then they can control access to resources, but the process becomes time-consuming and error-prone as complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of example access requests to pre-determine policy parameters and structure. By analyzing positive and negative example requests beforehand, the system prepares the policy framework in advance, eliminating the need for time-consuming manual creation while ensuring accuracy through pre-validat ed logic.
Solution Approach 2:
The policy generation system performs self-service by automatically creating access management policies without human intervention. The system takes example requests as input, autonomously generates appropriate policies, and outputs ready-to-deploy policy configurations, freeing users from manual policy creation tasks entirely.
2Ease of operation
If users manually edit access management policies, then they can adjust access controls, but unintended failures occur due to errors
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms that validate policy logic against example requests during generation. By continuously checking whether generated policies correctly implement the desired access control behavior, the system provides immediate feedback on policy correctness, eliminating the trial-and-error editing process that leads to unintended failures.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces the mechanical manual editing process with an automated computational system. Instead of users manually adjusting policy parameters and risking errors, the system uses algorithmic processing to generate and validate policies, substituting human manual operations with reliable automated mechanics.
3Productivity
If automatic policy generation is implemented, then policy creation time is reduced, but complexity of the system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces an intermediary policy generation component that sits between users and the access control system. This intermediary automatically translates example requests into policies, absorbing the complexity of policy logic while presenting a simple interface to users. The intermediary handles the computational burden, keeping the overall system architecture manageable despite the sophisticated generation process.
4Reliability
If comprehensive policy analysis is performed to detect conflicts, then policy reliability is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary conflict analysis during the policy generation process itself, rather than as a separate post-processing step. By checking for conflicts between generated policies and existing policies upfront, the system ensures consistency before deployment, eliminating the need for time-consuming retrospective analysis while maintaining high reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
Access management policies may be generated from example requests. An access management policy may be received. One or more example requests that have expected results when evaluated with respect to the access management policy may be received. Updates to the access management policy may be determined that cause the expected results to occur when a new version of the access management policy based on the updates is enforced. The new version of the access management policy may be generated based on the updates.