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What is a Resource?

As was discussed previously, a resource is any component of the computing or operating system required by a task. CA Top Secret protects a wide variety of computer resources, but to protect them it must know about them. Computer resources are secured through ownership and authorization.

Types of Resources

The types of resources (such as data sets, volumes, terminals and minidisks) that CA Top Secret protects are listed in what is called the Resource Descriptor Table (RDT). Many resource types are already automatically defined to the RDT at installation; however, additional resource types (including site-defined resources) can be added.

Ownership And Authorization

Securing resources is a two step process. Once the resource type, or class, is defined in the RDT, then each resource must be:

Ownership of a resource automatically implies full access to that resource. For other ACIDs to have access to that resource, they must be authorized, or permitted, to use it.

Security Validation Algorithm

Once all resources have been defined to CA Top Secret and their access levels specified, any future request to access those resources is processed through the CA Top Secret Security Validation Algorithm. The Security Validation Algorithm is the formula that CA Top Secret uses to determine whether an ACID has the appropriate authorizations to access a particular resource.