Method and apparatus for surveillance system peering

A repository of security assets, comprising:

• a set of information repositories for storing:
• an identity of security assets configured for gathering security information;
• subscribers that receive access to the security assets;
• contributors that own the security assets that may be enabled for access by subscribers, each contributor designating a subset of owned security assets that are selectively enabled for access by the subscribers;
• an indication of shareability for each designated asset contributed by the contributor;
• and
• agents having authority to designate access to the contributed security assets to the subscribers on behalf of the contributors;
• a token, the token issued by an agent to a subscriber for designating access to a security asset, the token indicative of the security asset and the accessing subscriber;
• rules indicative of conditions under which the subscribers may invoke the designated access to the security assets;
• and
• logic responsive to requests for the stored security assets, subscribers, contributors, agent and rules, the logic responsive to receiving a delegation to authorize a subscriber for access to the security asset, the group having collective access by the authorized subscriber.

A system for controlling access to shared security assets comprising:

• a server for identifying a plurality of security assets from contributors, each contributor designating a subset of the identified security assets for remote access;
• an agent having authority to designate access to the contributed security assets to the subscribers on behalf of the contributors;
• and
• a plurality of tokens, each security asset responsive to a token, the token transferred to the subscriber by the agent upon agent approval, further comprising
• establishment of a first trust relation from the contributor to the agent, the first trust relation for permitting access to a particular security asset, and a second trust relation from the agent to the subscriber,
• the second trust relation for affording access to the security asset by the subscriber, wherein the contributor is not privy to the second trust relation.