Logic Programming Applications: What Are the Abstractions and Implementations?

This article presents an overview of applications of logic programming, classifying them based on the abstractions and implementations of logic languages that support the applications. The three key abstractions are join, recursion, and constraint. Their essential implementations are for-loops, fixed points, and backtracking, respectively. The corresponding kinds of applications are database queries, inductive analysis, and combinatorial search, respectively. We also discuss language extensions and programming paradigms, summarize example application problems by application areas, and touch on example systems that support variants of the abstractions with different implementations

Short Paper: Automatic Configuration for an Optimal Channel Protection in Virtualized Networks

Data confidentiality, integrity and authentication are security properties which are often enforced with the generation of secure channels, such as Virtual Private Networks, over unreliable network infrastructures. Traditionally, the configuration of the systems responsible of encryption operations is performed manually. However, the advent of software-based paradigms, such as Software-Defined Networking and Network Functions Virtualization, has introduced new arms races. In particular, even though network management has become more flexible, the increased complexity of virtual networks is making manual operations unfeasible and leading to errors which open the path to a large number of cyber attacks. A possible solution consists in reaching a trade-off between flexibility and complexity, by automatizing the configuration of the channel protection systems through policy refinement. In view of these considerations, this paper proposes a preliminary study for an innovative methodology to automatically allocate and configure channel protection systems in virtualized networks. The proposed approach would be based on the formulation of a MaxSMT problem and it would be the first to combine automation, formal verification and optimality in a single technique

Tunable Security for Deployable Data Outsourcing

Security mechanisms like encryption negatively affect other software quality characteristics like efficiency. To cope with such trade-offs, it is preferable to build approaches that allow to tune the trade-offs after the implementation and design phase. This book introduces a methodology that can be used to build such tunable approaches. The book shows how the proposed methodology can be applied in the domains of database outsourcing, identity management, and credential management