Improving Timeliness in Real-Time Secure Database Systems

Database systems for real-time applications must satisfy timing constraints associated with transactions, while maintaining data consistency. In addition to real-time requirements, security is usually required in many applications. Multilevel security requirements introduce a new dimension to transaction processing in real-time database systems. In this paper, we argue that because of the complexities involved, trade-offs need to be made between security and timeliness. We briefly present the secure two-phase locking protocol and discuss an adaptive method to support trading off security for timeliness, depending on the current state of the system. The performance of the adaptive secure two-phase locking protocol shows improved timeliness. We also discuss future research direction to improve timeliness of secure database systems.