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Bell–La Padula Model

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security

Synonyms

BLP; BLP model; Secure computer system model

Related Concepts

Access Control; Chinese-Wall Model; Reference Monitor; The Clark–Wilson Model

Definition

The Bell and La Padula Model is a state-based computer security model that is the most widely used model for the production and evaluation of commercial products and systems approved for operational use. It was developed and explicated in a series of four technical reports between 1972 and 1974. The first three reports provided an ability to describe three aspects of security called “simple-security,” “discretionary-security,” and “ ⋆ -property” (pronounced “star-property”) and produced analytical tools for use in evaluating products and systems for conformance to those three aspects of security. The fourth report unified the exposition of the previous three reports and provided the first “model interpretation,” providing a careful correspondence between the Multics system and the model. Later work refined the analytical tools...

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Recommended Reading

  1. Anderson JP (1972) Computer security technology planning study. ESD-TR-73-51, vol I, AD-758 206, ESD/AFSC, Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts

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  3. Clark D, Wilson D (1987) A comparison of commercial and military computer security policies. In: Proceedings of the 1987 IEEE symposium on security and privacy, Oakland, 27–29 Apr 1987, pp 184–194

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  4. Department of Defense Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria, CSC-STD-001-83, 15 Aug 1983

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  5. Department of Defense Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria, DOD 5200.28-STD, Dec 1985

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  6. Bell D Elliott (1973) Secure computer systems: a refinement of the mathematical model, MTR-2547, vol III. The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, p 25 (ESD-TR-73-278-III)

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  7. Bell D Elliott (1973) Secure computer systems: a network interpretation. In: Proceedings of the second aerospace computer conference, McLean, 2–4 Dec 1986, pp 32–39

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  8. Bell D Elliott (1990) Lattices, policies, and implementations. In: Proceedings of the 13th national computer security conference, Washington, DC, 1–4 Oct 1990, pp 165–171

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  9. Bell D Elliott (1991) Putting policy commonalities to work. In: Proceedings of the 14th national computer security conference, Washington, DC, 1–4 Oct 1991, pp 456–471

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  12. Bell D Elliott, La Padula LJ (1975) Secure computer systems: unified exposition and multics interpretation, MTR-2997. The MITRE Corporation, Bedford (ESD-TR-75-306)

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  13. Graham GS, Denning PJ (1972) Protection – principles and practice. In: Proceedings of the SJCC, Atlantic City, NJ, pp 417–429

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  14. La Padula LJ, Bell D Elliott (1973) Secure computer systems: a mathematical model, MTR-2547, vol. II. The MITRE Corporation, Bedford (ESD-TR-73-278-II)

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 2415 Andorra Place, 20191, Reston, VA, USA

    David Elliott Bell

Authors
  1. David Elliott Bell
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics and Computing Science, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Henk C. A. van Tilborg

  2. Center for Secure Information Systems, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, 22030-4422, USA

    Sushil Jajodia

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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Elliott Bell, D. (2011). Bell–La Padula Model. In: van Tilborg, H.C.A., Jajodia, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5906-5_811

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