Constructing Authorization Systems Using Assurance Management Framework

Model-driven approach has recently received much attention in developing secure software and systems. In addition, software developers have attempted to employ such an emerging approach in the early stage of software development life cycle. However, security concerns are rarely considered and practiced due to the lack of appropriate systematic mechanisms and tools. In this paper, we introduce a multilayered software development life cycle (SDLC), which is based on an assurance management framework (AMF), focusing on the development of authorization systems. AMF facilitates comprehensive realization of formal security model, security policy specification and verification, generation of security enforcement codes, and rigorous conformance testing. We also articulate our experience in analyzing role-based authorization requirements and realizing those requirements in constructing a role-based authorization system.