Reconfigurable sensor networks: Transforming ethical concerns?

With the increasing use of sensor technology for different societal goals, like security and safety, the demand for multiple and flexible functionality of the sensors is rising. The expectation is that the development of reconfigurable sensors will lead to a continuous and affordable infrastructure. In this note, we undertake a first exploration of the ethical challenges reconfigurability raises for sensor networks, and more generally, for sociotechnical systems.Infrastructures, Systems and ServicesTechnology, Policy and Managemen

Requirements for Reconfigurable Technology: A challenge to Design for Values

With the increasing use of information technology for different societal goals, the demand for flexible and multiple-functionality appliances has risen. Making technology reconfigurable could be a way of achieving this. This working paper is written against the background of a large scale research project developing reconfigurable sensors in order to achieve a continuous and affordable infrastructure for both safety and security (STARS). Our role in the project is to explore the ethical challenges reconfigurability raises for sociotechnical systems like sensor networks. We foresee that reconfigurable technology adds an extra challenge to the identification and specification of functional and nonfunctional requirements for the technology.Infrastructures, Systems and ServicesTechnology, Policy and Managemen

Obligations to enforce prohibitions: On the adequacy of security policies

Security policies in organisations typically take the form of obligations for the employees. However, it is often unclear what the purpose of such obligations is, and how these can be integrated in the operational processes of the organisation. This can result in policies that may be either too strong or too weak, leading to unnecessary productivity loss, or the possibility of becoming victim to attacks that exploit the weaknesses, respectively. In this paper, we propose a framework in which the security obligations of employees are linked directly to prohibitions that prevent external agents (attackers) from reaching their goals. We use graph-based and logicbased approaches to formalise and reason about such policies, and show how the framework can be used to verify correctness of the associated refinements. The framework can assist organisations in aligning security policies with their threat model.Engineering, Systems and ServicesTechnology, Policy and Managemen