Security Requirements for the Prevention of Modern Software Vulnerabilities and a Process for Incorporation into Classic Software Development Lifecycles

Abstract

Software vulnerabilities and their associated exploits have been increasing over the last several years - this research attempts to reverse that trend. Currently, security experts recommend that concerns for security start at the earliest stage possible, generally during the requirements engineering phase. Having a set of security requirements enables the production of a secure design, and product implementation. Approaches for creating security requirements exist, but all have a similar limitation - a security expert is required.

This research provides a set of software security requirements that mitigate the introduction of software vulnerabilities, and reduces the need for security expertise. The security requirements can be implemented by software engineers with limited security experience, and be used with any computer language or operating system. Additionally, a tree structure, called the software security requirements tree (SSRT), is provided to support security requirement selection, based on project characteristics. A graphical interface for the SSRT is provided through a prototype Java tool, to support the identification and selection of appropriate software security requirements.

This research also provides a set of security artifacts to support a comprehensive verification, validation, and testing (VV&T) strategy. Those artifacts are generic, and represent design and implementation elements reflecting software security requirements. The security artifacts are used in verification strategies to confirm their necessity and existence in the actual design and implementation products.