eGovernance

Under guidance of Dr. P.V. Kamesam IBM Research Lab New Delhi
Ashish Gupta 3rd Year B.Tech , Computer Science and Engg. IIT Delhi

Introduction
Definition of eGov

It can be defined as the civil and political conduct of government, including service provision, using information and communication technologies.
Transactions
Government Government

Citizens

e-Gov solution

Overview of Presentation Part 1 : Content Manager Part 2 : Audit Trails in Distributed Databases

Intro to Content Manager

The Problem

A Major challenge in eGov : Data Management E.g. Land Records , Citizen Database etc. Content Manager : a Possible Solution

What is Content Manager ? Content Manager (a product from IBM) is a scalable solution for storing and retrieving documents of various types.

Content Manager
Brief Overview of the features of CM
1. Lets you store content regardless of format. ( Unstructured data )
E.g. text documents, scanned images, audio, video, forms any binary object

2. Stores data on distributed servers and provides single point access. 3. Provides many sophisticated features like Access control Storage management Archiving , Purging , Migration User management Automated Workflow Enterprise wide search from Internet or intranet clients. Streaming audio and video.

The Beginners Guide to CM

Provides an introduction to a layman about Content Manager Covers essential topics of CM Relevant Figures to explain important concepts All discusses development of Client Application for CM Useful Appendices with extra info like installation, references etc.

Developed an easy to use CM Programming API

Developed a new easy to use API on top of Content Manager Programming API

Benefits Makes it very easy to perform operations on the CM Database Encapsulates the complexity of CM API Object Oriented Approach allows easy integration into new apps Speeds up Application Development Time

Application

Audit Layer Security Layer

Extensibility : Acts like a new layer on top of CM New layers like Custom Access Control , Audit Layer can be added

SimpleCMAPI
Content Manager API
Folder Manager API Library Client API

A Prototype Application
Defining the problem
Proposed a prototype solution Developed an Application in Visual C++ on top of Content Manager Demonstrates use of our new API with additional layers
Workflow Security Layer Audit Layer
OR

Inner Line Permit for VISITOR

RESIDENTSHIP

Requirements for entering Arunachal Pradesh

Some Screenshots of the Application developed

Two databases: Citizen Database Inner Line Permit Database

Security Layer

Main Screen

Workflow in CM

Audit Trails on Distributed Databases

Definition of Audit Trail

An audit trail is a series of records of computer events, about an operating system, an application, or user activities.

Purpose of Audit Trail

Individual Accountability: track individual actions to facilitate audit. Reconstructing Events: reconstruct events as and when required. Problem Monitoring: online tools to help monitor problems Intrusion Detection: identifying attempts to penetrate a system and gain unauthorized access.

The eGov Middleware

Data Virtualization
Transaction Commands

Application

M I D D L E W A R E

Query processor and optimizer

Isolates logical view of data storage available to the application developer from the physical placement

Data Virtualizer

Database

Database

Database

Database

Audit Trail Component : A module responsible for

managing the audit trail of eGov applications across the entire system.
Problem Description Where can we place the Audit Trail Component in the eGov Architecture ?
Possible options: 1. Application 2. In the Middleware , above DV Module 3. In the Component Databases

Issues Involved in the Placement

Security Issues

Risking security at the hands of applications Tamper proofing of Audit Trail

Application Complexity Database design Complexity

Implementation Issues

Audit Trail Transparency to the application developers Consistency of Audit Trail across the entire system Ease of Audit Policy Management

Proposed Solution
Transaction Commands

Application

MI D D L E W A R E

S E C U R I T Y

Audit Trail Agent

Audit Policy Database

Query processor and optimizer Data Virtualizer

Database

Database

Database

Database

Further Research Issues

Audit Trail Agent Architecture

Storage of Audit Trail is an issue

Distributed or Centralized ? Possible Solution: A Buffered Distributed - Centralized Architecture Amalgamation of audit trail data at the central server

Timestamping issues to ensure correct chronological sequencing of audit trail for analysis Time sync , which time to use Proper Categorization of Audit Trail data to facilitate analysis

Ensuring Tamperproofing of Audit Trail for the Auditor

Authentication of Distributed Sources Encryption Access Control Secure Transmission

Audit trail management (Archiving and purging)

Access Control to Audit Trail

Conclusion

Extensible API developed for Content Manager along with an application Audit Trail Architecture in eGov

Working at IRL

Team work Research Experience Responsibility

Thanks

Things Learnt

Enterprise Database Technology Visual C++ / Database Interaction API Wrapper Technology Distributed Database Systems Audit Trail Technology and Middleware Tech. Security Issues in large scale databases

IIT Education
File Systems Course CS120 and CS130

Other Tasks

Laid down a list of requirements for eGov data management solutions A document on security issues of smart cards

Future Work
Integration of EIP with CM Further extension of the new CM API with focus on security and audit trail layers Development of applications for more real life scenarios

Architecture of CM
Client

Library Server

Multiple Object Servers

Fig: Architecture of Content Manager for a single Implementation