Policy-Governed Software Agents for Predictable Secure Behavior
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing software agents operate autonomously, leading to unpredictable behavior and concerns regarding security, privacy, and control, particularly in high-assurance environments.
Innovation Solution
A policy-governed system that constrains agent actions within predefined boundaries, integrating policy management with the agent system to ensure compliance and reduce programmer burden, even for buggy or malicious agents.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If software agents operate autonomously, then productivity and adaptability are improved, but reliability and security deteriorate due to unpredictable behavior
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a policy server as an intermediary between software agents and the host system. This policy server mediates agent actions by evaluating them against predefined policies before execution, thereby maintaining agent autonomy while ensuring predictable and secure behavior through external policy enforcement
2Ease of operation
If software agents operate independently, then ease of operation is improved, but control and security worsen in high-assurance environments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the agent system into distinct components: autonomous software agents, a policy server, and a policy database. This segmentation allows agents to operate independently while the policy server enforces security constraints, separating operational freedom from security control
3Reliability
If policy enforcement is integrated into the agent system, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The policy server acts as an intermediary that centralizes policy enforcement functionality. Rather than embedding complex policy checking logic in each agent, the system uses the policy server to handle policy evaluation, simplifying individual agent structure while maintaining overall system reliability
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for deploying software agents in a policy-governed environment. The use of over-arching policies to control the actions and interactions of the software agents preserves desirable agent autonomy without allowing unwanted and potentially unpredictable (or at least difficult-to-predict) agent behavior. The system allows the agents to be deployed in a high-assurance environment.