Trusted Computing Group

Security and computing in general are awash in standards and products, all promising IT organizations peace of mind and protection against the bad guys. But the reality can be, as one pundit put it, "creative chaos."

TCG several years ago published a simple protocol, the Interface for Metadata Access Points, or IF-MAP. Part of the TCG's Trusted Network Connect architecture for network security, the protocol was envisioned as very efficient, low-impact way for various security devices to share information and alerts through a shared database. It reduces the need for custom integration, APIs and scripts. In essence, it automatically aggregates, correlates, and distributes data to and from different systems, in real time.

IF-MAP intersected with the recession and resulting need for automation and to "do more with less." Companies are not reducing their IT needs, but they're looking for a way to more effectively use what they have and to integrate it.

IF-MAP is easy to use: developers can easily build apps that use it. One analyst we talked to compared it to USB- its original developers didn't envision USB fans, rubber duckies, aquariums, and all the other creative stuff we have hanging off our computers. IF-MAP enables that same creativity. Very quickly, some very interesting new applications using it have emerged. For example, one company that provides sophisticated physical security systems is using IF-MAP to integrate physical presence with network authentication at the door, at the data center and other locations.

A large manufacturing org is using IF-MAP to track its IT assets. They had no way to keep up with the rapidly proliferating physical machines, virtual machines and other assets, but IF-MAP lets them do this across a very large, geographically scattered organization. Another company is integrating SCADA networks, used in traditional utility and manufacturing infrastructures, with IT networks to track attacks, abnormalities and the like. 

TCG just released a new version of IF-MAP to better support these proliferating creative applications. The updated IF-MAP 2.0(add link to new spec) uses the same primitives as the original protocol - publish/subscribe/search - but adds the notify feature. The spec also has been separated into two parts, the base protocol and metadata specifications. The latter can be developed for specific use cases and the first one, for network security, is now published. Others will follow based on user input.

There are a number of available tools for developers interested in IF-MAP, many of which are open source. We will post updates on these soon.

Wondering how IF-MAP might tie into cloud computing? We've thought of that, too: For example, IF-MAP provides a simple way to federate authentication and authorization status across private and public clouds and can be used to move computing workloads around the cloud as prices drop or as other conditions warrant.

Read more about IF-MAP updates.