SysML-Sec: A model driven approach for designing safe and secure systems

Security flaws are open doors to attack embedded systems and must be carefully assessed in order to determine threats to safety and security. Subsequently securing a system, that is, integrating security mechanisms into the system´s architecture can itself impact the system´s safety, for instance deadlines could be missed due to an increase in computations and communications latencies. SysML-Sec addresses these issues with a model-driven approach that promotes the collaboration between system designers and security experts at all design and development stages, e.g., requirements, attacks, partitioning, design, and validation. A central point of SysML-Sec is its partitioning stage during which safety-related and security-related functions are explored jointly and iteratively with regards to requirements and attacks. Once partitioned, the system is designed in terms of system´s functions and security mechanisms, and formally verified from both the safety and the security perspectives. Our paper illustrates the whole methodology with the evaluation of a security mechanism added to an existing automotive system.