A Model-based Repository of Security and Dependability Patterns for Trusted RCES

International audienceThe requirement for higher Security and Dependability (S&D) of systems is continuously increasing, even in domains traditionally not deeply involved in such issues. Nowadays, many practitioners express their worries about current S&D software engineering practices. New recommendations should be considered to ground this discipline on two pillars: solid theory and proven principles. We took the second pillar towards software engineering for embedded system applications, focusing on the problem of integrating S&D by design to foster reuse. Model driven approaches combined with patterns can be extremely helpful to deal with these strong requirements. In this work, we present a framework for trusted Resource Constrained Embedded Systems (RCES) development by design, by defining both a model to represent S&D pattern language and an architecture for development tools. The implementation of a repository of S&D patterns and their complementary property models is discussed in detail

Interplay of Security&Dependability and Resource using Model-driven and Pattern-based Development

International audienceSeveral frameworks have been proposed to help designers of embedded system applications. However, we currently lack methodological tool support to take into account the interplay between security&;dependability and resource properties. In this work, we propose a modeling environment which associates model-driven paradigms with security and dependability patterns to ensure that the combination of security and dependability solutions fit on the targeted hardware platform. The resulted framework will serve as a tool to estimate the resources consumed by the security and dependability solutions at early stages of design to help the designer to avoid resource conflicts at run-time. In addition, we provide an architecture for development tools to support the design and the analysis of pattern-based secure and dependable applications. Finally, we apply it in practice to a use case from railway domain with strong security and dependability requirements

Modeling of Secure and Dependable Applications Based on a Repository of Patterns: The SEMCO Approach

International audienceThe requirement for higher quality and seamless development of systems is continuously increasing, even in domains traditionally not deeply involved in such issues. Security and Dependability (S&D) requirements are incorporated to an increasing number of systems. These newer restrictions make the development of those systems more complicated than conventional systems. In our work, we promote a new approach called SEMCO (System and software Engineering with Multi-COncerns) combining Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) with a model-based repository of S&D patterns to support the design and the analysis of pattern-based secure and dependable system and software architectures. The modeling framework to support the approach is based on a set of modeling languages, to specify security and dependability patterns, resources and a set of property models, and a set of model transformation rules to specify some of the analysis activities. As part of the assistance for the development of S&D applications, we have implemented a tool-chain based on the Eclipse platform to support the different activities around the repository, including the analysis activities. The proposed approach was evaluated through a case study from the railway domain

Selecting Security Patterns that Fulfill Security Requirements

Over the last few years a large number of security patterns have been proposed. However, this large number of patterns has created a problem in selecting patterns that are appropriate for different security requirements. In this paper, we present a selection approach for security patterns, which allows us to understand in depth the trade-offs involved in the patterns and the implications of a pattern to various security requirements. Moreover, our approach supports the search for a combination of security patterns that will meet given security requirements

An ontology-based approach to security pattern selection

Usually, the security requirements are addressed by abstracting the security problems arising in a specific context and providing a well proven solution to them. Security patterns incorporating proven security expertise solution to the recurring security problems have been widely accepted by the community of security engineering. The fundamental challenge for using security patterns to satisfy security requirements is the lack of defined syntax, which makes it impossible to ask meaningful questions and get semantically meaningful answers. Therefore, this paper presents an ontological approach to facilitating security knowledge mapping from security requirements to their corresponding solutions-security patterns. Ontologies have been developed usingWeb Ontology Language (OWL) and then incorporated into a security pattern search engine which enables sophisticated search and retrieval of security patterns using the proposed algorithm. Applying the introduced approach allows security novices to reuse security expertise to develop secure software system

Process and tool support for design patterns with safety requirements

The requirement for higher Security and Dependability (S&D) of systems is continuously increasing, even in domains tradi-tionally not deeply involved in such issues. Nowadays, many practitioners express their worries about current S&D software engineering practices. New recommendations should be considered to ground this discipline on two pillars: solid theory and proven principles. We took the second pillar towards software engineering for embedded system applications, focusing on the problem of integrating S&D by design to foster reuse. In this paper, we propose to combine design patterns and Model Driven Engineering (MDE) techniques for building component-based applications with safety requirements. The resulting modeling framework serves primarily to capture the basic concepts for specifying safety-oriented design patterns, building an S&D pattern system, and maintain safety properties, with existing modeling artifacts, during the engineering process based on the S&D pattern system. As a proof of concept, we are evaluating the feasibility of the framework through the example of the MooN pattern system for building systems having safety requirements: Communication Based Train Control (CBTC)

Design of risk assessment methodology for IT/OT systems : Employment of online security catalogues in the risk assessment process

The revolution brought about with the transition from Industry 1.0 to 4.0 has expanded the cyber threats from Information Technology (IT) to Operational Technology (OT) systems. However, unlike IT systems, identifying the relevant threats in OT is more complex as penetration testing applications highly restrict OT availability. The complexity is enhanced by the significant amount of information available in online security catalogues, like Common Weakness Enumeration, Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures and Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification, and the incomplete organisation of their relationships. These issues hinder the identification of relevant threats during risk assessment of OT systems. In this thesis, a methodology is proposed to reduce the aforementioned complexities and improve relationships among online security catalogues to identify the cybersecurity risk of IT/OT systems. The weaknesses, vulnerabilities and attack patterns stored in the online catalogues are extracted and categorised by mapping their potential mitigations to their security requirements, which are introduced on security standards that the system should comply with, like the ISA/IEC 62443. The system's assets are connected to the potential threats through the security requirements, which, combined with the relationships established among the catalogues, offer the basis for graphical representation of the results by employing tree-shaped graphical models. The methodology is tested on the components of an Information and Communication Technology system, whose results verify the simplification of the threat identification process but highlight the need for an in-depth understanding of the system. Hence, the methodology offers a significant basis on which further work can be applied to standardise the risk assessment process of IT/OT systems

A pattern-based development of secure business processes

Iga andmeturbest huvitatud äriettevõte valib iseendale sobilikud turvameetmed, et vältida ootamatuid sündmusi ja õnnetusi. Nende turvameetmete esmane ülesanne on kaitsta selle äriettevõtte ressursse ja varasid. Äriettevõtetes aset leidvad õnnetused (vähemtähtsad või katastroofilised) on enamikel juhtudel oma olemuselt sarnased ning põhjustatud sarnaste turvariskide poolt. Paljudel andmeturbe spetsialistidel on raskusi leidmaks õiget lahendust konkreetsetele probleemidele, kuna eelmiste samalaadsete probleemide lahendused ei ole korrektselt dokumenteeritud. Selles kontekstis on turvalisuse mustrid (Security Patterns) kasulikud, kuna nad esitavad tõestatud lahendusi spetsiifiliste probleemide jaoks. Käesolevas väitekirjas arendasime välja kümme turvariskidele suunatud mustrit (SRP ehk Security Risk-oriented Patterns) ja defineerisime, kuidas kasutada neid mustreid vastumeetmetena turvariskidele äriprotsesside mudelite sees. Oma olemuselt on need mustrid sõltumatud modelleerimiskeelest. Lihtsustamaks nende rakendamist, on mudelid esitatud graafilises vormingus äriprotsesside modelleerimise keeles (BPMN). Me demonstreerime turvariskidele suunatud mustrite (SRP) kasutatavust kahe tööstusettevõtte ärimudeli näite põhjal. Esitame mustrite rakendamise kohta kvantitatiivsed analüüsid ja näitame, kuidas turvariskidele suunatud mustrid (SRP) aitavad demonstreerida andmeturbe nõrku kohti ärimudelites ning pakume välja lahendusi andmeturvalisusega seotud probleemidele. Selle uurimistöö tulemused võivad julgustada andmeturvalisusega tegelevaid analüütikuid jälgima mustritel-põhinevaid lähenemisi oma äriettevõtete kaitsmiseks, et aidata seeläbi kaasa ka infosüsteemide (Information Systems (IS)) kaitsmisele.Every security concerned enterprise selects its own security measures in order to avoid unexpected events and accidents. The main objective of these security measures is to protect the enterprise’s own resources and assets from damage. Most of the time, the accidents or disasters take place in enterprise are similar in nature, and are caused by similar kind of vulnerabilities. However, many security analysts find it difficult to select the right security measure for a particular problem because the previous proven solutions are not properly documented. In this context Security Patterns could be helpful since they present the proven solutions that potentially could be reused in the similar situations. In this thesis, we develop a set of ten Security Risk-oriented Patterns (SRP) and define the way how they could be used to define security countermeasures within the business process models. In principle, patterns are modelling language-independent. Moreover, to ease their application, we represent them in a graphical form using the Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN) modelling approach. We demonstrate the usability of the Security Risk-oriented Patterns (SRP) by applying them on two industrial business models. We present the quantitative analysis of their application. We show that Security Risk-oriented Patterns (SRP) help to determine security risks in business models and suggest rationale for security solutions. The results of this research could potentially encourage the security analysts to follow pattern-based approach to develop secure business processes, thus, contributing to secure Information Systems (IS)