Modeling and verification of authentication threats mitigation in aspect-oriented mal sequence woven model

Area of Science:

• Software Engineering
• Cybersecurity
• Formal Methods

Background:

• Security threat modeling is crucial but often neglected during software design.
• Traditional object-oriented approaches struggle with modeling crosscutting security concerns like authentication, leading to complexity, tangling, and scattering.
• Early mitigation of security threats is essential to prevent software defects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and validate an aspect-oriented modeling approach for security threats, specifically authentication threats.
• To address and resolve the issues of tangling and scattering in security threat modeling.
• To reduce the complexity of software design models and facilitate future modifications.

Main Methods:

• Utilized aspect-oriented modeling (AOM) to separate and localize crosscutting concerns (security threats) into aspects.
• Developed a novel approach to model security threats and their mitigation within mal sequence diagrams, incorporating security and AOM profiles.
• Performed mathematical verification of the woven aspect-oriented mal sequence model for correctness and completeness.

Main Results:

• Successfully modeled authentication threats using AOM, effectively removing scattering and tangling from the design.
• The proposed approach integrates security threat modeling directly into the mal sequence diagram.
• Mathematical verification confirmed the correctness and completeness of the aspect-oriented woven model.

Conclusions:

• Aspect-oriented modeling (AOM) is a viable technique for effectively modeling and mitigating security threats, particularly authentication threats, in software design.
• The proposed AOM approach simplifies software design by reducing model complexity, tangling, and scattering.
• This research enhances the robustness and maintainability of software by addressing security concerns at the design stage.