New Opportunities for Integrated Formal Methods

Formal methods have provided approaches for investigating software engineering fundamentals and also have high potential to improve current practices in dependability assurance. In this article, we summarise known strengths and weaknesses of formal methods. From the perspective of the assurance of robots and autonomous systems~(RAS), we highlight new opportunities for integrated formal methods and identify threats to their adoption to be mitigated. Based on these opportunities and threats, we develop an agenda for fundamental and empirical research on integrated formal methods and for successful transfer of validated research to RAS assurance. Furthermore, we outline our expectations on useful outcomes of such an agenda

Integration of security standards in DevOps pipelines: An industry case study

In the last decade, companies adopted DevOps as a fast path to deliver software products according to customer expectations, with well aligned teams and in continuous cycles. As a basic practice, DevOps relies on pipelines that simulate factory swim-lanes. The more automation in the pipeline, the shorter a lead time is supposed to be. However, applying DevOps is challenging, particularly for industrial control systems (ICS) that support critical infrastructures and that must obey to rigorous requirements from security regulations and standards. Current research on security compliant DevOps presents open gaps for this particular domain and in general for systematic application of security standards. In this paper, we present a systematic approach to integrate standard-based security activities into DevOps pipelines and highlight their automation potential. Our intention is to share our experiences and help practitioners to overcome the trade-off between adding security activities into the development process and keeping a short lead time. We conducted an evaluation of our approach at a large industrial company considering the IEC 62443-4-1 security standard that regulates ICS. The results strengthen our confidence in the usefulness of our approach and artefacts, and in that they can support practitioners to achieve security compliance while preserving agility including short lead times.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Software engineering for AI-based systems: A survey

AI-based systems are software systems with functionalities enabled by at least one AI component (e.g., for image-, speech-recognition, and autonomous driving). AI-based systems are becoming pervasive in society due to advances in AI. However, there is limited synthesized knowledge on Software Engineering (SE) approaches for building, operating, and maintaining AI-based systems. To collect and analyze state-of-the-art knowledge about SE for AI-based systems, we conducted a systematic mapping study. We considered 248 studies published between January 2010 and March 2020. SE for AI-based systems is an emerging research area, where more than 2/3 of the studies have been published since 2018. The most studied properties of AI-based systems are dependability and safety. We identified multiple SE approaches for AI-based systems, which we classified according to the SWEBOK areas. Studies related to software testing and software quality are very prevalent, while areas like software maintenance seem neglected. Data-related issues are the most recurrent challenges. Our results are valuable for: researchers, to quickly understand the state-of-the-art and learn which topics need more research; practitioners, to learn about the approaches and challenges that SE entails for AI-based systems; and, educators, to bridge the gap among SE and AI in their curricula.This work has been partially funded by the “Beatriz Galindo” Spanish Program BEAGAL18/00064 and by the DOGO4ML Spanish research project (ref. PID2020-117191RB-I00)Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Formal Methods in Dependable Systems Engineering : A Survey of Professionals from Europe and North America

Context: Formal methods (FMs) have been around for a while, still being unclear how to leverage their benefits, overcome their challenges, and set new directions for their improvement towards a more successful transfer into practice. Objective: We study the use of formal methods in mission-critical software domains, examining industrial and academic views. Method: We perform a cross-sectional on-line survey. Results: Our results indicate an increased intent to apply FMs in industry, suggesting a positively perceived usefulness. But the results also indicate a negatively perceived ease of use. Scalability, skills, and education seem to be among the key challenges to support this intent. Conclusions: We present the largest study of this kind so far (N = 216), and our observations provide valuable insights, highlighting directions for future theoretical and empirical research of formal methods. Our findings are strongly coherent with earlier observations by Austin and Parkin (1993)

An audit model for safety-critical software

Atualmente o uso de software considerados complexos e críticos está crescendo em diversos setores da indústria como a aeronáutica com seus diversos sistemas embarcados em aeronaves e a médica com seus dispositivos médicos cada vez mais avançados. Devido a isso, a quantidade de standards dedicados a esse tipo de desenvolvimento está crescendo nos últimos anos e autoridades regulamentadoras estão reconhecendo a sua aplicabilidade e, em alguns casos, tornando como parte dos requisitos obrigatórios de certificação ou aprovação. O intuito de uma auditoria de software é verificar que o software desenvolvido está de acordo com a norma aplicável, no entanto os modelos existentes não permitem o auditor ter a flexibilidade de adequar o modelo de auditoria às suas necessidades. Como parte dessa pesquisa, diferentes modelos de desenvolvimento software foram considerados, bem como standards da área aeronáutica (RTCA DO-178C) e área médica (IEC 62304) foram estudados quanto as suas recomendações e requisitos para desenvolvimento de software safety-crítico. Como objetivo dessa dissertação, um modelo de auditoria de software foi proposto com as atividades que são necessárias para a condução de auditoria de software safety-crítico, permitindo ao auditor aplicar o modelo de acordo com as atividades que precisam ser auditadas, dando a flexibilidade necessária para o escopo da auditoria, bem como um conjunto de perguntas para a auditoria de software desenvolvido utilizando RTCA DO-178C e IEC 62304 foi sugerido e avaliado por especialistas de software para garantir a maturidade e eficiência das perguntas propostas. Além da avaliação das perguntas, também foi conduzido um estudo de caso, em uma empresa aeroespacial, com duas instanciações para avaliar a maturidade do modelo de auditoria de software proposto.Nowadays, the use of software considered complex and critical is growing in several industry sectors, such as aeronautics with its various systems embedded in aircraft and the medical one with its increasingly advanced medical devices. Because of this, the number of standards dedicated to this type of development is growing in recent years, and regulatory authorities are recognizing its applicability and, in some cases, making it part of the mandatory certification requirements or approval. The software audit intent is to verify that the software developed complies with the applicable standard. However, the existing audit models do not allow the auditor to tailor the audit model to its audit necessities. As part of this research, the various software development models were considered, and standards in the aeronautical (RTCA DO-178C) and medical (IEC/ISO 62304) areas were studied regarding their guidelines and requirements for safety-critical software development. This thesis aims to propose a software audit model with the activities necessary for conducting a safety-critical software audit, giving the auditor the necessary flexibility in the audit execution without the need to achieve specific predetermined milestones. Additionally, a set of questions for software auditing developed using RTCA DO-178C and IEC 62304 has been suggested and evaluated by software experts to ensure the maturity and efficiency of the proposed questions. In addition to evaluating the questions, a case study was also conducted in an aerospace company, with two instances to evaluate the proposed software audit model’s maturity.Não recebi financiament

Embedding risk management within new product and service development of an innovation and risk management framework and supporting risk processes, for effective risk mitigation : an action research study within the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Sector

At first glance, innovation and risk management seem like two opposing disciplines with diverse objectives. The former seeks to be flexible and encourages enhanced solutions and new ideas, while the latter can be seen as stifling such innovative thinking. Since there is a failure rate of as many as eight out of every ten products launched, it is perhaps necessary for organisations to consider applying more structured approaches to innovation, in order to better manage risks and to increase the chances of delivering improved goods and services. A risk management approach is well suited to address the challenge of failure, as it focuses not only on the negative impact of risks but also on the opportunities they present. It aligns these with the strategic objectives of the organisation to increase the chances of its success. The research objective of this study was to establish how to embed risk management within the innovation divisions of an organisation to ensure that more efficient products and services are delivered to customers. To achieve this end, action research was conducted in a large organisation operating in a high-technology environment that launches many diverse products and services and rapidly expanding service offerings to other industries. The study took four years to complete and delivered multiple interventions that successfully embedded risk management within the organisation, leading to changed behaviours and double-loop learning. Two main knowledge contributions are offered by the study. Firstly, a generic and empirically validated integrated Innovation and Risk Management Framework (IRMF) is developed and guides new product and service development by considering both best practices and risks. Secondly, a risk dashboard is designed as a design science artefact within the action research cycles, which consolidates all the knowledge that was generated during the study. This is ultimately a visual interface to support stage-gate decision making. Since the context of the study was broad, extensive and complicated, the use of mixed-method research complemented and expanded on the findings by providing another layer of support and validation. This thesis highlights the complexity of innovation and presents the need for an organising framework that will encourage innovation but is sufficiently flexible to cater for diverse needs and risks. The study delivers several other, valuable contributions regarding what, how and why incidents occur within the real-world context of new product and service development. Several generic artefacts, such as risk processes and maturity frameworks, are also developed, which can guide risk and new product and service development practitioners to deliver more efficient product and services. This study offers several novel approaches to evaluating risks and provides practical support and recommendations, addressing shortcomings of fragmented research in similar, but smaller-scale studies that have been conducted in information systems. It is the premise of this research that a much wider number of risks need to be managed as new products and services are developed, than was noted in previous studies. Effective risk management in new product and service development could lead to competitive advantage for organisations by increasing knowledge and facilitating sustainable, informed risk decision-making

Business Continuity Management: A Holistic Framework for Implementation

In the last few years, different events have made organizations aware of the importance of Business Continuity Management (BCM). When first developed, BCM implementation used a traditional approach. Academically, some authors have provided frameworks for BCM implementation. However, these frameworks do not contemplate all the dimensions necessary for a holistic BCM implementation. Furthermore, globally organizations have made efforts to standardize the implementation process which resulted in the standard ISO 22301. However, standards provide only what is required for an implementation and not how to achieve this. This paper introduces the reader to BCM, the importance of BCM, and its evolution. Additionally, proposes a guide for the implementation of a holistic framework for BCM. This study applies a qualitative approach. As part of the research, a case study was performed. To gather the information, interviews were conducted. The purpose of the case study is to evaluate the BCM current state in a Latin American financial institution. Finally, an analysis of the BCM legal framework in Panama is provided. Keywords: Business Continuity Management (BCM), resilience, holistic, implementation, frameworks, standard