AUTHENTICATION IN THE TAOS OPERATING SYSTEM

We describe a design for security in a distributed system and its impl ementation. In our design, applications gain access to security servic es through a narrow interface. This interface provides a notion of ide ntity that includes simple principals, groups, roles, and delegations. A new operating system component manages principals, credentials, and secure channels. It checks credentials according to the formal rules of a logic of authentication. Our implementation is efficient enough t o support a substantial user community.