Internet-Draft AegisFS Architecture August 2026
Sripad Expires 1 March 2027 [Page]
Workgroup:
SECDISPATCH / RATS
Internet-Draft:
draft-aegisfs-secdispatch-rats-01
Published:
Intended Status:
Informational
Expires:
Author:
Sripad
AegisFS Project

AegisFS: AI-Driven Programmable Secure File Runtime and Intelligent Workspace Architecture with Octal OpCode Processing and Policy-Driven Language Architecture

Abstract

This document specifies AegisFS, a programmable secure file and folder runtime that transforms ordinary filesystem objects into intelligent, policy-driven, state-aware, execution-aware, and behavior-aware security objects.

This draft introduces two novel technical contributions:

  1. The Octal to OpCode (OtO) Framework: a real-time processing model wherein all file operations, state transitions, and intent declarations are compiled into a structured 9-bit octal instruction set enabling hardware-accelerated, microsecond-latency policy enforcement in the runtime kernel.
  2. The Aegis Policy Language (APL): a next-generation, policy-driven programming architecture featuring custom-defined keywords, strongly typed identifiers, and syntax-based operation analysis where the policy definition IS the executable architecture. An operation that cannot be expressed in valid APL syntax cannot produce a valid OtO opcode and therefore cannot execute.

This document is submitted for consideration by the SECDISPATCH and RATS Working Groups of the IETF.

Status of This Memo

This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

This Internet-Draft will expire on 1 March 2027.

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction

1.1. Motivation and Problem Statement

Modern computing environments demand security primitives that go far beyond traditional discretionary or mandatory access control. Existing filesystem security models treat files and directories as passive, path-identified storage to which permissions are applied statically.

This model is fundamentally inadequate for the following reasons:

  1. Identity is not context-aware. A permission granted to a user applies regardless of device, application, network state, or risk context.
  2. Access decisions are static. Permissions do not respond to behavioral anomalies, ransomware-pattern writes, or data exfiltration flows.
  3. Operations are opaque. The filesystem has no concept of the intent behind a write or delete operation.
  4. Files have no relationships. Dependencies, provenance, and data flow relationships are invisible to the security model.
  5. There is no execution-level governance. A binary placed in a directory can be executed without analysis or sandboxing.

AegisFS addresses all of these gaps by replacing the passive file abstraction with a governed, intelligent object model where every file and folder is a first-class security principal.

1.2. Goals and Non-Goals

Goals:

  • Define a portable, extensible model for intelligent file objects.
  • Specify the Octal to OpCode (OtO) framework for real-time policy enforcement with minimal latency overhead.
  • Define the Aegis Policy Language (APL) as a policy-driven programming architecture where policy syntax defines executable behavior.
  • Specify lifecycle, transaction, provenance, dependency, resource, collaborative, and AI behavioral models for filesystem objects.

Non-Goals:

  • This document does not specify a general-purpose filesystem protocol such as an NFS or SMB extension.
  • This document does not specify cryptographic algorithm suites.
  • This document does not address cloud storage APIs directly.

1.3. Working Group Dispatch Rationale

SECDISPATCH: AegisFS introduces a broad, multi-domain security architecture touching access control, behavioral analysis, attestation, and policy enforcement. SECDISPATCH is the appropriate initial venue to evaluate which sub-components should be advanced to dedicated Working Groups such as SACM, RATS, OAUTH, or a potential new WG.

RATS (Remote ATtestation procedureS): The AegisFS Identity and Context Engine relies on device trust attestation and application identity verification that align directly with the RATS architecture [RFC9334]. The Secure Object Identity model, contextual access chain, and capability token attestation are strong candidates for alignment with RATS Entity Attestation Tokens (EAT).

2. Terminology and Conventions

The key words MUST, MUST NOT, REQUIRED, SHALL, SHALL NOT, SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, RECOMMENDED, MAY, and OPTIONAL in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174].

AegisFS Object (AFO):
A file or folder registered with the AegisFS runtime and elevated from a passive storage item to a governed security object with identity, policy, lifecycle state, and behavioral profile.
Octal to OpCode (OtO) Framework:
The real-time instruction encoding system used by AegisFS to compile all operations, state transitions, and intents into a 9-bit octal instruction for hardware-accelerated processing.
Aegis Policy Language (APL):
The policy-driven DSL used to define workspace security boundaries, access rules, resource limits, execution constraints, and lifecycle governance. APL is the primary programming interface for AegisFS.
Policy-Driven Architecture (PDA):
An architectural model in which the policy definition, expressed in APL, is compiled directly into executable runtime behavior. No operation can execute unless a valid APL policy permits it.
Capability Token (CT):
A short-lived, cryptographically bound permission artifact granting a specific principal the right to perform a specific operation on a specific object for a constrained duration.
Digital Twin:
A runtime model of the expected structural and behavioral state of a workspace or file object, used for anomaly detection by comparing expected state against observed state.
SCSWP:
Secure Collaborative Staging Workspace Protocol — the sub-protocol managing multi-user collaborative access to protected workspaces