45,385 research outputs found
Composing features by managing inconsistent requirements
One approach to system development is to decompose the requirements into features and specify the individual features before composing them. A major limitation of deferring feature composition is that inconsistency between the solutions to individual features may not be uncovered early in the development, leading to unwanted feature interactions. Syntactic inconsistencies arising from the way software artefacts are described can be addressed by the use of explicit, shared, domain knowledge. However, behavioural inconsistencies are more challenging: they may occur within the requirements associated with two or more features as well as at the level of individual features. Whilst approaches exist that address behavioural inconsistencies at design time, these are overrestrictive in ruling out all possible conflicts and may weaken the requirements further than is desirable. In this paper, we present a lightweight approach to dealing with behavioural inconsistencies at run-time. Requirement Composition operators are introduced that specify a run-time prioritisation to be used on occurrence of a feature interaction. This prioritisation can be static or dynamic. Dynamic prioritisation favours some requirement according to some run-time criterion, for example, the extent to which it is already generating behaviour
A Survey on Service Composition Middleware in Pervasive Environments
The development of pervasive computing has put the light on a challenging problem: how to dynamically compose services in heterogeneous and highly changing environments? We propose a survey that defines the service composition as a sequence of four steps: the translation, the generation, the evaluation, and finally the execution. With this powerful and simple model we describe the major service composition middleware. Then, a classification of these service composition middleware according to pervasive requirements - interoperability, discoverability, adaptability, context awareness, QoS management, security, spontaneous management, and autonomous management - is given. The classification highlights what has been done and what remains to do to develop the service composition in pervasive environments
Composability in quantum cryptography
In this article, we review several aspects of composability in the context of
quantum cryptography. The first part is devoted to key distribution. We discuss
the security criteria that a quantum key distribution protocol must fulfill to
allow its safe use within a larger security application (e.g., for secure
message transmission). To illustrate the practical use of composability, we
show how to generate a continuous key stream by sequentially composing rounds
of a quantum key distribution protocol. In a second part, we take a more
general point of view, which is necessary for the study of cryptographic
situations involving, for example, mutually distrustful parties. We explain the
universal composability framework and state the composition theorem which
guarantees that secure protocols can securely be composed to larger
applicationsComment: 18 pages, 2 figure
An n-sided polygonal model to calculate the impact of cyber security events
This paper presents a model to represent graphically the impact of cyber
events (e.g., attacks, countermeasures) in a polygonal systems of n-sides. The
approach considers information about all entities composing an information
system (e.g., users, IP addresses, communication protocols, physical and
logical resources, etc.). Every axis is composed of entities that contribute to
the execution of the security event. Each entity has an associated weighting
factor that measures its contribution using a multi-criteria methodology named
CARVER. The graphical representation of cyber events is depicted as straight
lines (one dimension) or polygons (two or more dimensions). Geometrical
operations are used to compute the size (i.e, length, perimeter, surface area)
and thus the impact of each event. As a result, it is possible to identify and
compare the magnitude of cyber events. A case study with multiple security
events is presented as an illustration on how the model is built and computed.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, 11th International Conference on Risks
and Security of Internet and Systems, (CRiSIS 2016), Roscoff, France,
September 201
Use of rod compactors for high voltage overhead power lines magnetic field mitigation
In the last decades, strengthening the high voltage transmission system through the installation of new overhead power lines has become critical, especially in highly developed areas. Present laws concerning the human exposure to electric and magnetic fields introduce constraints to be considered in both new line construction and existing systems. In the paper, a technique for passive magnetic field mitigation in areas close to overhead power lines is introduced, fully modelled and discussed through a parametric analysis. The investigated solution, which basically consists in approaching line conductors along the span making use of rod insulators, is applicable on both existing and under-design overhead lines as an alternative to other mitigating actions. Making use of a 3-dimensional representation, the procedure computes both positions of phase conductors and forces acting on insulators, towers, conductors and compactors, with the aim of evaluating the additional mechanical stress introduced by the compactors. Finally, a real case study is reported to demonstrate and quantify the benefits in terms of ground magnetic field reduction achievable by applying the proposed solution, in comparison to a traditional configuration. Furthermore, using compactors to passively reduce the magnetic field is simple to be applied, minimally invasive and quite inexpensive as regards to alternative mitigating actions
Software Engineering Challenges for Investigating Cyber-Physical Incidents
Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are characterized by the interplay between digital and physical spaces. This characteristic has extended the attack surface that could be exploited by an offender to cause harm. An increasing number of cyber-physical incidents may occur depending on the configuration of the physical and digital spaces and their interplay. Traditional investigation processes are not adequate to investigate these incidents, as they may overlook the extended attack surface resulting from such interplay, leading to relevant evidence being missed and testing flawed hypotheses explaining the incidents. The software engineering research community can contribute to addressing this problem, by deploying existing formalisms to model digital and physical spaces, and using analysis techniques to reason about their interplay and evolution. In this paper, supported by a motivating example, we describe some emerging software engineering challenges to support investigations of cyber-physical incidents. We review and critique existing research proposed to address these challenges, and sketch an initial solution based on a meta-model to represent cyber-physical incidents and a representation of the topology of digital and physical spaces that supports reasoning about their interplay
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Towards a Security, Privacy, Dependability, Interoperability Framework for the Internet of Things
A popular application of ambient intelligence systems constitutes of assisting living services on smart buildings. As intelligence is imported in embedded equipment, the system becomes able to provide smart services (e.g. control lights, airconditioning, provide energy management services etc.). IoT is the main enabler of such environments. However, the interconnection of these cyber-physical systems and the processing of personal data raise serious security and privacy issues. In this paper we present a framework that can guarantee Security, Privacy, Dependability and Interoperability (SPDI) in IoT. Taking advantage of the underlying IoT deployment, the proposed framework not only implements the requested smart functionality but also provide modelling and administration that can guarantee those SPDI properties. Moreover, we provide an application example of the framework in a smart building scenario
Advanced Cloud Privacy Threat Modeling
Privacy-preservation for sensitive data has become a challenging issue in
cloud computing. Threat modeling as a part of requirements engineering in
secure software development provides a structured approach for identifying
attacks and proposing countermeasures against the exploitation of
vulnerabilities in a system . This paper describes an extension of Cloud
Privacy Threat Modeling (CPTM) methodology for privacy threat modeling in
relation to processing sensitive data in cloud computing environments. It
describes the modeling methodology that involved applying Method Engineering to
specify characteristics of a cloud privacy threat modeling methodology,
different steps in the proposed methodology and corresponding products. We
believe that the extended methodology facilitates the application of a
privacy-preserving cloud software development approach from requirements
engineering to design
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