One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for managing security
policies in a distributed computing system. Security policies include, but are
not limited to, a firewall policy, a policy for file access, a policy for application
access, a policy for an encryption algorithm, a policy for audit trails, and a
policy for activity logging. These security policies determine access rights to
a computer application. The system operates by creating multiple security policies
with individual security policies specifying a differing level of security for
the distributed computing system. These security policies are then distributed
to each computer in the distributed computing system. Next, a specific security
policy is selected for use across the distributed computing system, and each computer
in the distributed computing system is directed to use the specified security policy
enforcing a selected security posture.
