A Secure Development Decomposition Argument Pattern for Structured Assurance Case Models
How can development teams systematically demonstrate that their systems comply with secure development methodologies — and build credible assurance arguments?
28th Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs (PLoP 2021)
ACM · 2021
Demonstrating compliance with secure development methodologies is often a cornerstone for an effective security assurance argument for complex and critical systems. However, existing assurance case models lack a structured, reusable pattern for decomposing the security argument around the development process itself.
How can development teams systematically demonstrate that their systems comply with secure development methodologies — and build credible assurance arguments?
The Approach
We propose a security assurance argument pattern called Secure Development Decomposition. This pattern is derived from the secure development processes and procedures required for developing a secure system. The pattern can be instantiated in the context of a domain-relevant secure development methodology or security standard to demonstrate compliance and adequate security considerations throughout system development.
The Transformation
To illustrate its applicability, we use an example from the automotive domain to show how to use the pattern to demonstrate compliance with a relevant security standard and its prescribed secure development methodology. The pattern forms part of a structured security assurance case.