The mobile agents paradigm integrates a network of computers in a novel way and, in a certain sense, reduces networking to program construction. A mobile agent can travel from one place to another and, subject to the destination's approval, interact programmatically with the place it visits.
Besides a good deal of promise, mobile agents also introduce new problems. Most of these problems have to do with security and safety. Some of the security concerns have been studied by the distributed systems community and cryptologists for a long time, but mechanisms and technologies developed to secure communication and control access to resources must be adapted to take into account mobility and protection of mobile agents from malicious hosts.
| Security Issues in Mobile Code Systems | 1 | |
| Environmental Key Generation Towards Clueless Agents | 15 | |
| Language Issues in Mobile Program Security | 25 | |
| Protecting Mobile Agents Against Malicious Hosts | 44 | |
| Safe, Untrusted Agents Using Proof-Carrying Code | 61 | |
| Time Limited Blackbox Security: Protecting Mobile Agents from Malicious Hosts | 92 | |
| Authentication for Mobile Agents | 114 | |
| Cryptographic Traces for Mobile Agents | 137 | |
| D'Agents: Security in a Multiple-Language, Mobile-Agent System | 154 | |
| A Security Model for Aglets | 188 | |
| Signing, Sealing, and Guarding Java Objects | 206 | |
| The Safe-Tcl Security Model | 217 | |
| Web Browsers and Security | 235 | |
| Author Index | 257 |
Overview
The mobile agents paradigm integrates a network of computers in a novel way and, in a certain sense, reduces networking to program construction. A mobile agent can travel from one place to another and, subject to the destination's approval, interact programmatically with the place it visits.
Besides a good deal of promise, mobile agents also introduce new problems. Most of these problems have to do with security and safety. Some of the security concerns have been studied by the ...