eGovernance Under guidance of Dr. P.V. Kamesam IBM Research Lab New Delhi Ashish Gupta 3 rd 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. e-Gov solution Government Transactions Citizens 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 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 Extensibility : Acts like a new layer on top of CM New layers like Custom Access Control, Audit Layer can be added Content Manager API Folder Manager API Library Client API SimpleCMAPI Application Security Layer Audit Layer Developed a new easy to use API on top of Content Manager Programming 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 Inner Line Permit for VISITOR RESIDENTSHIP Requirements for entering Arunachal Pradesh OR

Some Screenshots of the Application developed Security Layer Workflow in CM Two databases: Citizen Database Inner Line Permit Database Main Screen

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. Audit Trails on Distributed Databases

The eGov Middleware Data Virtualization Isolates logical view of data storage available to the application developer from the physical placement Data Virtualizer Transaction Commands Query processor and optimizer Database MIDDLEWAREMIDDLEWARED Application

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 Implementation Issues  Application Complexity  Database design Complexity Audit Trail Transparency to the application developers Consistency of Audit Trail across the entire system Ease of Audit Policy Management

Proposed Solution Data Virtualizer Query processor and optimizer Database Audit Policy Database MID L E W A R E Transaction Commands Audit Trail Agent Application SECURITYSECURITY

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 Library Server Multiple Object Servers Client Fig: Architecture of Content Manager for a single Implementation