Title:
Secure Location-based Access Control in Online Social Networks

Description:
Today's Online Social Networks (OSN) only adopted the very basic concepts of Location-based services (LBS), e.g., allowing to tag status updates or pictures with location information. In this thesis, the use of location for access control in OSN should be addressed, allowing peers to access distinct parts of others based on their location, possibly enriched by further contextual data. This Location-based Access Control (LBAC) paradigm has to be based on secure and reliable protocols in order to prevent attackers from accessing private information without proper authority.

The main goal of this master thesis is to design, implement, test, and evaluate a system for LBAC for OSN. To achieve this goal, the following steps have to be addressed.

• Literature research: What existing LBAC architectures exist and what are their benefits and drawbacks?
• Improve existing or implement new algorithms for secure LBAC incorporating additional contextual information besides location.
• Design access control mechanisms for OSN that allow for dynamic access to distinct parts of ones social profile based on contextual information.
• Implement the proposed mechanisms and algorithms in form of a prototype. Test and evaluate.

Prerequisites:

• Proficiency in web technologies and web services
• Programming skills and profound knowledge in IT security
• Strong interest to work on a project in the area of secure social web services

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Axel Küpper, Sebastian Göndör

Type: Master Thesis

Duration: 6 months