Access Control in Linked Data Using WebID

TL;DR

This paper explores using WebID for secure, fine-grained access control in Linked Data environments, demonstrating its effectiveness through a practical proof-of-concept in the context of lifelong learning workflows.

Contribution

It presents a novel application of WebID for access control in Linked Data, including a fully implemented proof-of-concept for cross-domain data sharing.

Findings

WebID enables secure, granular access control in Linked Data systems

The proof-of-concept demonstrates practical feasibility in a real-world scenario

WebID facilitates trusted cross-domain interactions in semantic web applications

Abstract

Linked Data technologies become increasingly important in many domains. Key factors for their breakthrough are security and trust. Classical means for access control lack granularity when parts of the Linked Data graph must be protected. The WebID, combining semantic web concepts with methods from certificate based authentication and authorization, seems promising to fulfill all requirements concerning security and trust in the semantic web. In the PerSemID project, we challenged the WebID technology with a fully implemented proof-of-concept (PoC) addressing a workflow coming from the domain of lifelong learning and student mobility. In our use case of study enrollment, we used WebIDs for authentication and to grant access to parts of triple stores, during cross domain triple store interactions to exchange data between stakeholders.