Co-operation in the digital age - engendering trust in electronic environments

The pervasive environment implies a massive increase in the scale of systems, the heterogeneity of devices and diversity in services available, making the complex task of centrally managing the environment unfeasible. The scope and role of trusted third parties in facilitating trust is also reduced because of the high number of bilateral trust relationships, which cannot be predefined and managed statically. Moreover, the dynamic, mobile and asynchronous nature of many of the devices means that it is difficult to predict their state or context of operation from moment to moment All this adds up to increased uncertainty and a need for a revision of the methods and concepts used to express and assess trust and provide assurance. This work addresses this need by defining realistic models of digital trust that are capable of dealing with the uncertainties inherent in the environment and that are aware of the contexts of interactions in evaluating trust.