Security XML

To view the W3C's XML 1.0 Specification document, click here.

In the following extract the specification is described thus:

"The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a subset of SGML that is completely described in this document. Its goal is to enable generic SGML to be served, received and processed on the Web in the way that is now possible for HTML. XML has been designed for ease of implementation and for interoperability with both SGML and HTML."
Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0, W3C Recommendation February 10, 1998, pg. 1

In the years since it has become clear that XML can enable a much wider interoperability than first envisaged.

The Development of the Computer in Business
•	First we had the electronic typewriter that would backspace over your mistakes and erase them Even better than white-out liquid
•	Then we had the word processor with its time-saving storage and retrieval feature I could send you a disk but your computer cannot read it
•	People identified other needs that software provided solutions for Except often software could not talk to other software
•	The Internet arrived and we all learned 'email' Some attached files cannot open despite our being told that versions are compatable
•	Company web sites cost us money. Did we earn a measurable benefit from them? I still have to print your order request and enter it into our computer database system. Sometimes I make typos
•	Now we must investigate e-business How can our accounts/stock system communicate with the software down our supply chain? Everyone uses something different including varying terminology

Examples of communication difficulties like those will be familiar to many. The quest for interoperability has been a key issue for IT directors and management of business alike.

What does XML offer?
XML offers a common format to define and distribute data and is based on international standards. In browser software or on a printed page XSL (XML Style Language) displays the layout in a similar way that Cascading Style Sheets function in HTML. XSL is a subset of the International Standard Style Language DSSL (ISO/IEC 10179).

XLL (eXtensible Link Language) handles the hypertext information. XLL is derived from HyTime (ISO/IEC 10744) another international standard.

Find out more at the International Standards Organisation.

The native character set of XML is Unicode (ISO/IEC 10646). Unicode with multiple byte characters supports a wide number of alphabets and languages. Unicode is supported in Java and in operating systems such as Windows NT and AIX.

XML is a generic document standard. Any information that can be put into a document can be put into an XML document, marked up with the tags to differentiate different sections of the content, provide references to special symbols and text macros, or convey special instructions to the receiving application software.

The ultimate flexibility
XML is a meta-language syntax standard that allows the production of task-specific vocabularies that can be used with either off-the-shelf or bespoke applications, i.e. XML allows the writing of messages and data that users, computers and systems from different manufacturers will all understand.

Web services are a new thrust to drive forward the use of XML (Web services standards).

Useful Sites:
To learn more about how XML works, click here

Or buy a good book on the subject

Visit the open site for discussion of the application of XML in the security industry

Set up in 1993, OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) was founded with a membership drawn from major companies in the IT world.