Information 2019, 10(2), 47; https://doi.org/10.3390/info10020047
CaACBIM: A Context-aware Access Control Model for BIM
1
Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Environment, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
2
School of Computer Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
3
School of Business Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China
4
School of Software, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 22 December 2018 / Revised: 22 January 2019 / Accepted: 23 January 2019 / Published: 1 February 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Information Management in Information Age)
Abstract
A building information model (BIM) is of upmost importance with a full life-time cycle in architecture engineering and construction industry. Smart construction relies on BIM to manipulate information flow, data flow, and management flow. Currently, BIM has been explored mainly for information construction and utilization, but there exist few works concerning information security, e.g., audits of critical models and exposure of sensitive models. Moreover, few BIM systems have been proposed to make use of new computing paradigms, such as mobile cloud computing, blockchain and Internet of Things. In this paper, we propose a Context-aware Access Control (CaAC) model for BIM systems on mobile cloud architectures. BIM data can be confidentially accessed according to contexts in a fine-grained manner. We describe functions of CaAC formally by illustrating location-aware access control and time-aware access control. CaAC model can outperform role-based access control for preventing BIM data leakage by distinguishing contexts. In addition, grouping algorithms are also presented for flexibility, in which basic model (user grouping based on user role permissions) and advanced model (user grouping based on user requests) are differentiated. Compared with the traditional role-based access control model, security and feasibility of CaAC are remarkably improved by distinguishing an identical role with multiple contexts. The average efficiency is improved byKeywords:
access control; BIM; construction automation; mobile cloud
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Zheng, R.; Jiang, J.; Hao, X.; Ren, W.; Xiong, F.; Zhu, T. CaACBIM: A Context-aware Access Control Model for BIM. Information 2019, 10, 47.
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