Secure Software Architectures

The computer industry is increasingly dependent on open architectural standards for their competitive success. This paper describes a new approach to secure system design in which the various representations of the architecture of a software system are described formally and the desired security properties of the system are proven to hold at the architectural level. The main ideas are illustrated by means of the X/Open Distributed Transaction Processing reference architecture,which is formalized and extended for secureaccess control as defined by the Bell-LaPadula model. The extension allows vendors to develop individualcomponentsindependently and with minimal concern about security. Two important observations were gleaned on the implications of incorporating security into software architectures.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1997
• Where: SP
• Authors: Mark Moriconi, Xiaolei Qian, Robert A. Riemenschneider, Li Gong
• Keywords: Extension Allows Vendors, Open Architectural Standards, Security Privacy, SP 1997, X/Open Distributed Transaction