Trust Service Broker
A proposal to overcome global distrust in information infrastructures
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Abstract
The globalization of economy has significantly increased the role of online information exchange between transacting parties worldwide. Currently implemented trust models, such as Public Key Infrastructure, provide enough means to enable the secure exchange of data, but only within specified territories, thereby forming different trust domains worldwide. Due to technical, organizational and political hindrances, an efficient universal trust model interconnecting different trust domains cannot be established by relying on one of the current archetypes of trust models. In this paper, we propose an Architecture based on an alternative, hybrid trust model in order to deal with the interoperability issues across different trust domains: the Trust Service Broker Architecture. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the TSB in a scenario related to international supply chain operations. We begin by describing a particular logistics case, more specifically an import trade lane from Malaysia to the Netherlands, as well as the issues associated with the information exchange between relevant stakeholders, which subsequently drive the requirements for the TSB architecture. Building on current knowledge, we then present a detailed overview of the TSB architecture and how it can facilitate safe and reliable information exchange for organizations involved in the logistics case. In order to do so, we also present a high level overview of the internal TSB security risks. Finally, we attempt to validate and generalize the TSB solution from a theoretical perspective, while also discussing the results and the implications for future research.