This topic highlights what is new or changed in Version 6.0.x, and is aimed at those who are responsible for securing applications and the application serving environment.
The biggest improvement in security involves the set of supported
specifications.
External JACC provider support | The Java Authorization Contract for Containers (JACC) specification version 1.0, introduced in WebSphere Application Server Version 6 and defined by Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) Version 1.4, defines a contract between J2EE containers and external authorization providers. Based on this specification, WebSphere Application Server enables you to plug in an external provider to make authorization decisions when you are accessing J2EE resources. When you use this feature, WebSphere Application Server supports Tivoli Access Manager as the default JACC provider. For more information, see JACC providers. |
Java 2 security manager | WebSphere Application Server Version 6.0.x provides you with greater control over the permissions granted to applications for manipulating non-system threads. You can permit applications to manipulate non-system threads using the was.policy file. However, these thread control permissions are disabled, by default. For more information, see Configuring the was.policy file. |
JCA 1.5 support | WebSphere Application Server Version 6.0.x supports the J2EE Connector Architecture (JCA) Version 1.5 specification, which provides new features such as the inbound resource adapter. For more information, see J2EE Connector Architecture resource adapters. From a security perspective, WebSphere Application Server Version 6.0.x provides an enhanced custom principal and credential mapping programming interface and custom mapping properties at the resource reference level. The custom JAAS login module, which was developed for JCA principal and credential mapping for WebSphere Application Server Version 5.x, is still supported. |
SSL channel framework | The Secure Sockets Layer channel framework incorporates the new IBMJSSE2 implementation and separates the security function of Java Secure Sockets Extension (JSSE) from the network communication function. |
Web authentication using the Java Authentication and Authorization Service programming model | WebSphere Application Server Version 6.0.x enables you to use the Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) programming model to perform Web authentication in your application code. To use this function, you must create your own JAAS login configuration by cloning the WEB_INBOUND login configuration and define a cookie=true login option. After a successful login using your login configuration, the Web login session is tracked by single signon (SSO) token cookies. This option replaces the SSOAuthenticator interface, which was deprecated in WebSphere Application Server Version 4. For more information, see Java Authentication and Authorization Service authorization. |
Web services security | WebSphere Application Server Version 6.0.x increases the extensibility of Web services security by providing a pluggable architecture. The implementation in WebSphere Application Server includes many of the features that are described in the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) Web Services Security Version 1 standard. As part of this standard, WebSphere Application Server supports custom, pluggable tokens that are used for signing and encryption, pluggable signing and encryption algorithms, pluggable key locators for locating a key that is used for digital signature or encryption, signing or encrypting elements in a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) message, and specifying the order of the signing or encryption processes. |