Architectural Style: Distortions for Deploying and Managing Deception Technologies in Software Systems

Deception technologies are software tools that simulate/dissimulate information as security measures in software systems. Such tools can help prevent, detect, and correct security threats in the systems they are integrated with. Despite the continued existence and use of these technologies (~20+ years) the process for integrating them into software systems remains undocumented. This is due to deception technologies varying greatly from one another in a number of different ways. To begin the process of documentation, I have proposed an architectural style that describes one possible way deception technologies may be integrated into software systems. To develop this architectural style, I performed a literature review on deception technologies and the art of deception as a discipline. I break down how deception technologies work according to the art of deception through the simulation and dissimulation of software components. I then examined existing deception technologies and categorize them according to their simulations/dissimulations. The documented and proposed architectural style describes how software systems deploy and manage deceptions. Afterwards, I propose a number of future research opportunities surrounding this subject