IMC Colloquium Series: "Engineering Security: A Formal Approach"

Abstract

Security builds on abstractions that call for accurate models to be analyzed and validated so as to ensure they serve their purpose. Abstract operational security requirements can naturally be described in terms of discrete mathematics and computational logic. Mathematical precision is essential for reasoning about critical properties and to uncover and eliminate design flaws and weaknesses that often go unnoticed otherwise; it is also a prerequisite for using computational methods and tools, for instance, in experimental studies by means of computer simulation as a feasible alternative to performing real world experiments. We illustrate the approach by presenting our experience with various collaborative R projects, with government agencies and industrial partners, on computational criminology, decision support for coastal surveillance, identity management, and situation analysis.