Security policy refinement and enforcement for the design of multi-level secure systems

Issue title: Privacy, Security and Trust (PST) Technologies: Evolution and Challenges

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Zhou, Jie | Alves-Foss, Jim

Affiliations: Center for Secure and Dependable Systems, University of Idaho, USA. E-mail: zhou0924@uidaho.edu, jimaf@uidaho.edu

Abstract: The successful design and implementation of secure systems must include security concerns from the beginning. A component that processes data at multiple security levels is critical and must go through additional evaluation to ensure the processing is secure. It is common practice to isolate and separate the processing of data at different levels into different components. In this paper we present policy-based architectural refinement techniques for the design of multi-level secure (MLS) systems. In addition, a policy refinement language is proposed to specify the rules of refinement patterns, and the hierarchy of the refinement patterns is presented. We discuss which security policies must be satisfied through the refinement process, including when separation works and when it does not. The process oriented approach will lead to verified engineering techniques for the design of MLS systems, which should greatly reduce the cost of certification of those systems.

Keywords: Architectural refinement, policy refinement, multi-level security

DOI: 10.3233/JCS-2008-16202

Journal: Journal of Computer Security, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 107-131, 2008