Abstract
In this paper, we present Trust-X, a comprehensive XML-based [12] framework for trust negotiations, specifically
conceived for a peer-to-peer environment. Trust negotiation is a promising approach for establishing trust in open systems like the
Internet, where sensitive interactions may often occur between entities at first contact, with no prior knowledge of each other. The
framework we propose takes into account all aspects related to negotiations, from the specification of the profiles and policies of the
involved parties to the selection of the best strategy to succeed in the negotiation. Trust-X presents a number of innovative features,
such as the support for protection of sensitive policies, the use of trust tickets to speed up the negotiation, and the support of different
strategies to carry on a negotiation. In this paper, besides presenting the language to encode security information, we present the
system architecture and algorithms according to which negotiations can take place.
