A Taxonomy Of Aspect-Oriented Security

Aspect-Oriented Programming is gaining prominence,  particularly in the area of security. There are however no taxonomies available, that classify the proliferation of research done in the area of Aspect-Oriented Security. This paper attempts to categorize research outputs conducted in this area, and evaluate the usability of the aspect-oriented paradigm in terms of software security

A Framework for Security Metrics Based on Operational System Attributes

There exists a large number of suggestions for how to measure security, and in many cases the goal is to find a single overall metric of security. Given that security is a complex and multi-faceted property, we believe that there are fundamental problems to find such an overall metric. Thus, we suggest a framework for security metrics that is based on a number of system attributes taken from the security and the dependability disciplines. We then regroup those attributes according to an existing conceptual system model and propose a metrication framework in accordance. We suggest that there should be metrics related to protective attributes, to behavioural attributes and possibly to system correctness. Thus, the main idea is that security metrication should be split up and related to a number of specific attributes, and that a composite security metric is hard to define

Biometric security systems: finally, a friend?

Information systems security has broadened its meaning and significance and has started to affect our lives and behaviours. The research literature identifies five related research domains: information systems, security policies, security technologies, security assurance, and security interfaces. This paper discusses some aspects of user acceptance of biometrical measurements for the purposes of authentication and access control and concludes that initial user rejection of the commonly implemented biometrics and fear of privacy abuse have been replaced by a de facto user acceptance. It hypothesizes that there is correlation between users’ awareness of the broader consequences of a particular biometric system and the level of their acceptance of the system

Identifying Suitable Attributes for Security and Dependability Metrication

In this paper, we suggest a framework for security and dependability metrics that is based on a number of non-functional system attributes. The attributes are the traditional security attributes (the “CIA”) and a set of dependability attributes. Based on a system model, we group those attributes into protective attributes and behavioural attributes and propose that metrication should be done in accordance. We also discuss the dependence between these two sets of attributes and how it affects the corresponding metrics. The metrics themselves are only defined to a limited degree. The concepts of security and dependability largely reflect the same basic system meta-property and are partly overlapping. We claim that the suggested approach will facilitate making quantitative assessment of the integrated concept of security and dependability as reflected by those attributes

How to systematically classify computer security intrusions

This paper presents a classification of intrusions with respect to the technique as well the result. The taxonomy is intended to be a step on the road to an established taxonomy of intrusions for use in incident reporting, statistics, warning bulletins, intrusion detection systems etc. Unlike previous schemes, it takes the viewpoint of the system owner and should therefore be suitable to a wider community than that of system developers and vendors only. It is based on data from a realistic intrusion experiment, a fact that supports the practical applicability of the scheme. The paper also discusses general aspects of classification, and introduces a concept called dimension. After having made a broad survey of previous work in the field, we decided to base our classification of intrusion techniques on a scheme proposed by Neumann and Parker (1989) and to further refine relevant parts of their scheme. Our classification of intrusion results is derived from the traditional three aspects of computer security: confidentiality, availability and integrit

Modulating application behaviour for closely coupled intrusion detection

Includes bibliographical references.This thesis presents a security measure that is closely coupled to applications. This distinguishes it from conventional security measures which tend to operate at the infrastructure level (network, operating system or virtual machine). Such lower level mechanisms exhibit a number of limitations, amongst others they are poorly suited to the monitoring of applications which operate on encrypted data or the enforcement of security policies involving abstractions introduced by applications. In order to address these problems, the thesis proposes externalising the security related analysis functions performed by applications. These otherwise remain hidden in applications and so are likely to be underdeveloped, inflexible or insular. It is argued that these deficiencies have resulted in an over-reliance on infrastructure security components