Managing trust in cyberspace

Sabu M. Thampi, Bharat K. Bhargava, Pradeep K. Atrey

"Preface Traditional security mechanisms restrict access to authorized users only, in order to protect resources from malicious users. However, in many contexts, we must protect ourselves from those who offer resources, so that the problem is in fact reversed. This improper usage cannot be addressed by traditional security mechanisms, and the issues relate more to trustworthiness than security. Trust is a vital factor in our daily coexistence with other people, who can be unpredictable. Trust helps to reduce the uncertainty caused by this unpredictability to an acceptable level. The notion of trust includes trust management systems. These systems gather information required for creating a trust relationship and dynamically monitor and fine-tune present relationships. Thus, trust management provides a basis for cooperation to develop. The schemes include both centralized and...