Graph Patterns in Fine-Grained Access Control for Graph-Structured Data

Due to their increasing importance also graph-structured data require advanced access control. As graph patterns are a promising approach for enforcing sophisticated, fine-grained authorization policies for graph-structured data, we start by discussing the available terms and formats. We then focus on conceptualizing and implementing graph patterns in two access control models, which represent the two alternative approaches: “pattern-first”, where the patterns are at the core of the model, and “pattern as extension”, where an existing access control model is extended to also support patterns. We compare these two approaches by analyizing the differences in pattern definition and enforcement.