information path

** A property of a data flow used as a basis for access-control decisions about where information is permitted to travel within or between systems. It is distinguished from the *content* of the information itself: information flow control regulates where information is allowed to travel within an information system and between information systems, as opposed to who is allowed to access the information. Specifically, organizations use information flow control policies and enforcement mechanisms to control the flow of information between designated sources and destinations — such as networks, individuals, and devices — within systems and between interconnected systems, with flow control based on characteristics of the information or the information path. In practice, the information path serves as one of two alternative criteria (the other being content characteristics) against which boundary protection devices such as encrypted tunnels, routers, gateways, and firewalls apply rule sets or configuration settings to restrict system services, provide packet-filtering based on header information, or provide message-filtering based on message content. **VERDICT:** TERM_OF_ART --- **Sou