Web Services and Security happenings

After years of development three key Web services security standards have finally made their way into the OASIS standards body, paving the way for master security policies and shared credentials in the service-oriented world. The first meeting of the OASIS Web Services Secure Exchange (WS-SX) Technical Committee is set for early December and the WS-Trust, WS-SecureConversation and WS-SecurityPolicy specifications will be up for review.

Microsoft, IBM, BEA Systems and other top software makers will lead Web Services Secure Exchange (WS-SX), a group to improve the way users safely exchange SOAP messages for Web services transactions. WS-SX will also define security policies for those messages….. While WS-Security provides a baseline for secure Web services communication, WS-Trust, WS-SP, WS-SC and now WS-SX provide long-running, secure Web services conversations. They also allow for Web services to expose their security requirements in a way that other Web services can understand.