Integrating Security and Systems Engineering: Towards the Modelling of Secure Information Systems

Abstract

Abstract. Security is a crucial issue for information systems. Traditionally, security is considered after the definition of the system. However, this approach often leads to problems, which translate into security vulnerabilities. From the viewpoint of the traditional security paradigm, it should be possible to eliminate such problems through better integration of security and systems engineering. This paper argues for the need to develop a methodology that considers security as an integral part of the whole system development process. The paper contributes to the current state of the art by proposing an approach that considers security concerns as an integral part of the entire system development process and by relating this approach with existing work. The different stages of the approach are described with the aid of a case study; a health and social care information system.

Using Security Attack Scenarios to Analyse Security During Information Systems Design

“…In previous papers (Mouratidis, 2003-Mouratidis, 2003a-Mouratidis, 2003b, we have presented how we extended the Tropos methodology, by introducing the concepts of security reference diagram and security constraints and by redefining existing Tropos concepts such as secure entities, secure dependencies, and secure capabilities to enable it to consider security aspects throughout the whole development process.…”

“…In previous papers, we have presented a process that allows developers to identify the security requirements of an information system (Mouratidis, 2003), reason about a suitable architectural style (Mouratidis, 2003a), and successfully transform security requirements to design (Mouratidis, 2003b).…”

Using a Situational Method Engineering Approach to Identify Reusable Method Fragments from the Secure TROPOS Methodology.

“…The basic Tropos methodology was not conceived with security in mind and, as a result, it therefore fails to adequately capture security requirements [40]. In particular, the methodology demonstrates limitations with respect to security in its process as well as in its concepts.…”

Enhancing Secure Tropos to Effectively Deal with Security Requirements in the Development of Multiagent Systems

“…Although, the Tropos methodology was not conceived with security in mind, we have presented in previous work a set of security related concepts [13,14,15] (some resulted from security related extensions of existing concepts), to enable it to model security issues throughout the development of multiagent systems. This security oriented extension, which is known as secure Tropos, includes the following security related concepts.…”

“…In previous work [13,14,15] we have presented models and techniques towards the solution of problems a, b, c, and d. For example, we proposed a well guided security-oriented process that considers the same concepts and notations throughout the development lifecycle and it allows the parallel definition of security and functional requirements providing at the same time a clear distinction.…”