71,370 research outputs found
Formal Specification and Validation of Security Policies
International audienceWe propose a formal framework for the specification and validation of security policies. To model a secured system, the evolution of security information in the system is described by transitions triggered by authorization requests and the policy is given by a set of rules describing the way the corresponding decisions are taken. Policy rules are constrained rewrite rules whose constraints are first-order formulas on finite domains, which provides enhanced expressive power compared to classical security policy specification approaches like the ones using Datalog, for example. Our specifications have an operational semantics based on transition and rewriting systems and are thus executable. This framework also provides a common formalism to define, compare and compose security systems and policies. We define transformations over secured systems in order to perform validation of classical security properties
A model checking-based approach for security policy verification of mobile systems
International audienceThis article describes an approach for the automated verification of mobile systems. Mobile systems are characterized by the explicit notion of (e.g., sites where they run) and the ability to execute at different locations, yielding a number of security issues. To this aim, we formalize mobile systems as Labeled Kripke Structures, encapsulating the notion of that describes the hierarchical nesting of the threads constituting the system. Then, we formalize a generic that includes rules for expressing and manipulating the code location. In contrast to many other approaches, our technique supports both access control and information flow specification. We developed a prototype framework for model checking of mobile systems. It works directly on the program code (in contrast to most traditional process-algebraic approaches that can model only limited details of mobile systems) and uses abstraction-refinement techniques, based also on location abstractions, to manage the program state space. We experimented with a number of mobile code benchmarks by verifying various security policies. The experimental results demonstrate the validity of the proposed mobile system modeling and policy specification formalisms and highlight the advantages of the model checking-based approach, which combines the validation of security properties with other checks, such as the validation of buffer overflows
XRound : A reversible template language and its application in model-based security analysis
Successful analysis of the models used in Model-Driven Development requires the ability to synthesise the results of analysis and automatically integrate these results with the models themselves. This paper presents a reversible template language called XRound which supports round-trip transformations between models and the logic used to encode system properties. A template processor that supports the language is described, and the use of the template language is illustrated by its application in an analysis workbench, designed to support analysis of security properties of UML and MOF-based models. As a result of using reversible templates, it is possible to seamlessly and automatically integrate the results of a security analysis with a model. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
XML Rewriting Attacks: Existing Solutions and their Limitations
Web Services are web-based applications made available for web users or
remote Web-based programs. In order to promote interoperability, they publish
their interfaces in the so-called WSDL file and allow remote call over the
network. Although Web Services can be used in different ways, the industry
standard is the Service Oriented Architecture Web Services that doesn't rely on
the implementation details. In this architecture, communication is performed
through XML-based messages called SOAP messages. However, those messages are
prone to attacks that can lead to code injection, unauthorized accesses,
identity theft, etc. This type of attacks, called XML Rewriting Attacks, are
all based on unauthorized, yet possible, modifications of SOAP messages. We
present in this paper an explanation of this kind of attack, review the
existing solutions, and show their limitations. We also propose some ideas to
secure SOAP messages, as well as implementation ideas
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Arguing satisfaction of security requirements
This chapter presents a process for security requirements elicitation and analysis,
based around the construction of a satisfaction argument for the security of a
system. The process starts with the enumeration of security goals based on assets
in the system, then uses these goals to derive security requirements in the form of
constraints. Next, a satisfaction argument for the system is constructed, using a
problem-centered representation, a formal proof to analyze properties that can be
demonstrated, and structured informal argumentation of the assumptions exposed
during construction of the argument. Constructing the satisfaction argument can
expose missing and inconsistent assumptions about system context and behavior
that effect security, and a completed argument provides assurances that a system
can respect its security requirements
A Distributed Context-Aware Trust Management Architecture
The realization of a pervasive context-aware service platform imposes new challenges for the security and privacy aspects of the system in relation to traditional service platforms. One important aspect is related with the management of trust relationships, which is especially hard in a pervasive environment because users are supposed to interact with entities unknown before hand in an ad-hoc and dynamic manner. Current trust management solutions do not adapt nor scale well in this dynamic service provisioning scenario because they require previously defined trust relationships in order to operate. The objective of this thesis is to design, prototype and validate a context-aware distributed trust management architecture in order to address: (a) the lack of integration between available trust solutions and security and privacy management languages, and (b) the dynamic characteristics of a context-aware service platform
Aligning a Service Provisioning Model of a Service-Oriented System with the ITIL v.3 Life Cycle
Bringing together the ICT and the business layer of a service-oriented system
(SoS) remains a great challenge. Few papers tackle the management of SoS from
the business and organizational point of view. One solution is to use the
well-known ITIL v.3 framework. The latter enables to transform the organization
into a service-oriented organizational which focuses on the value provided to
the service customers. In this paper, we align the steps of the service
provisioning model with the ITIL v.3 processes. The alignment proposed should
help organizations and IT teams to integrate their ICT layer, represented by
the SoS, and their business layer, represented by ITIL v.3. One main advantage
of this combined use of ITIL and a SoS is the full service orientation of the
company.Comment: This document is the technical work of a conference paper submitted
to the International Conference on Exploring Service Science 1.5 (IESS 2015
Semantic security: specification and enforcement of semantic policies for security-driven collaborations
Collaborative research can often have demands on finer-grained security that go beyond the authentication-only paradigm as typified by many e-Infrastructure/Grid based solutions. Supporting finer-grained access control is often essential for domains where the specification and subsequent enforcement of authorization policies is needed. The clinical domain is one area in particular where this is so. However it is the case that existing security authorization solutions are fragile, inflexible and difficult to establish and maintain. As a result they often do not meet the needs of real world collaborations where robustness and flexibility of policy specification and enforcement, and ease of maintenance are essential. In this paper we present results of the JISC funded Advanced Grid Authorisation through Semantic Technologies (AGAST) project (www.nesc.ac.uk/hub/projects/agast) and show how semantic-based approaches to security policy specification and enforcement can address many of the limitations with existing security solutions. These are demonstrated into the clinical trials domain through the MRC funded Virtual Organisations for Trials and Epidemiological Studies (VOTES) project (www.nesc.ac.uk/hub/projects/votes) and the epidemiological domain through the JISC funded SeeGEO project (www.nesc.ac.uk/hub/projects/seegeo)
Smart cards: State-of-the-art to future directions
The evolution of smart card technology provides an interesting case study of the relationship and interactions between security and business requirements. This paper maps out the milestones for smart card technology, discussing at each step the opportunities and challenges. The paper reviews recently proposed innovative ownership/management models and the security challenges associated with them. The paper concludes with a discussion of possible future directions for the technology, and the challenges these present
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