US Patent 7484237 Method and apparatus for role-based security policy management

A method and corresponding tool are described for security policy management in a network comprising a plurality of hosts and at least one configurable policy enforcement point. The method, comprises creating one or more policy templates representing classes of usage control models within the network that are enforceable by configuration of the policy enforcement points; creating one or more policy instances, each based on one of the templates and instantiating the template for identified sets of hosts within the network to which the usage control model is to be applied, deploying the policy instances by generating and providing one or more configuration files for provisioning corresponding policy enforcement points within the network. Access to the templates and policy instances is controlled so that the policy templates are only modifiable by a first predeterminable user group, the policy instances are only modifiable by the first or a second predeterminable user group and the policy instances are only deployable by a third predeterminable user group.