Distributed Policy Enforcement Framework for System Transactions

Abstract

Complex enterprise software industrial systems encompass large volumes of transactions and complex business logic that must comply with various context-aware policies. Ensuring compliance across transaction chains is a challenging and error-prone task. This paper presents a conceptual architecture and prototype implementation to address these challenges. The architecture is based on two key principles, first, abstracting the APIs of underlying services with stub components, and second, allowing these stubs to invoke relevant policies as a service before proceeding with the transaction. If the policies are validated, the stub calls the stub version of the callee, which then delegates the operation to the actual callee, acting as a driver for the transaction. The approach introduces key innovations, simplifying integration by removing the need for transacting parties to know policies in advance. Policies are evaluated within the context of prior transactions, ensuring consistency and compliance across the transaction chain. Additionally, smart contracts execute these policy assessments, with outcomes securely logged on the blockchain ledger to create an immutable audit trail. Beyond enforcement, the policies can also be used as domain-specific security “challenges” that must be resolved before transactions proceed, making it thus difficult for intruders to bypass. This dual functionality addresses both compliance and cybersecurity, providing a robust solution for complex systems.