Notification: Our email services are now fully restored after a brief, temporary outage caused by a denial-of-service (DoS) attack. If you sent an email on Dec 6 and haven't received a response, please resend your email.
CFP last date
20 December 2024
Reseach Article

Improvising the Security of Software Application by the Use of Fault Tree Analysis in Decision Making

Published on July 2012 by Samithakhaiyum, Y S Kumaraswamy
Advanced Computing and Communication Technologies for HPC Applications
Foundation of Computer Science USA
ACCTHPCA - Number 3
July 2012
Authors: Samithakhaiyum, Y S Kumaraswamy
fa914bb9-aa99-489e-bffa-b2f1d3521bf7

Samithakhaiyum, Y S Kumaraswamy . Improvising the Security of Software Application by the Use of Fault Tree Analysis in Decision Making. Advanced Computing and Communication Technologies for HPC Applications. ACCTHPCA, 3 (July 2012), 30-34.

@article{
author = { Samithakhaiyum, Y S Kumaraswamy },
title = { Improvising the Security of Software Application by the Use of Fault Tree Analysis in Decision Making },
journal = { Advanced Computing and Communication Technologies for HPC Applications },
issue_date = { July 2012 },
volume = { ACCTHPCA },
number = { 3 },
month = { July },
year = { 2012 },
issn = 0975-8887,
pages = { 30-34 },
numpages = 5,
url = { /specialissues/accthpca/number3/7569-1023/ },
publisher = {Foundation of Computer Science (FCS), NY, USA},
address = {New York, USA}
}
%0 Special Issue Article
%1 Advanced Computing and Communication Technologies for HPC Applications
%A Samithakhaiyum
%A Y S Kumaraswamy
%T Improvising the Security of Software Application by the Use of Fault Tree Analysis in Decision Making
%J Advanced Computing and Communication Technologies for HPC Applications
%@ 0975-8887
%V ACCTHPCA
%N 3
%P 30-34
%D 2012
%I International Journal of Computer Applications
Abstract

Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) attempts to model and analyse failure processes of engineering and biological systems. FTA is basically composed of logic diagrams that display the state of the system and is constructed using graphical design techniques. Originally, engineers were responsible for the development of Fault Tree Analysis, as a deep knowledge of the system under analysis is required. Fault Tree Analysis usually involves events from hardware wear out, material failure or malfunctions or combinations of deterministic contributions to the event stemming from assigning a hardware/system failure rate to branches or cut sets. Typically failure rates are carefully derived from substantiated historical data such as mean time between failure of the components, unit, subsystem or function. Predictor data may be assigned. Assigning a software failure rate is elusive and not possible. Since software is a vital contributor and inclusive of the system operation it is assumed the software will function normally as intended. There is no such thing as a software fault tree unless considered in the system context. Software is an instruction set to the hardware or overall system for correct operation. Since basic software events do not fail in the physical sense, attempting to predict manifestation of software faults or coding errors with any reliability or accuracy is impossible, unless assumptions are made. Predicting and assigning human error rates is not the primary intent of a fault tree analysis, but may be attempted to gain some knowledge of what happens with improper human input or intervention at the wrong time. FTA can be used as a valuable design tool, can identify potential accidents, and can eliminate costly design changes. It can also be used as a diagnostic tool, predicting the most likely system failure in a system breakdown. FTA is used in safety and reliability engineering and in all major fields of engineering. This paper aims to provide an overview of some major uses of FTA and elaborates an appreciation of the breadth of applications of FTA in decision-making by considering an example of improvising the security of software application by the use of controlled access.

References
  1. Fault Tree Analysis for Software Design Massood Towhidnejad, Dolores R Wallace, Albert M Gallo, Nasa Goddard, Space Flight in Engineering (2003)
  2. Fault Tree Handbook with Aerospace ApplicationsNasa Office, Mission Assurance, Nasa Headquarters in Director (2002)
  3. Fault Tree Analysis, Mark W Averettin Risk Analysis (1988)
  4. A Fault-Tree Semantics to model Software-Controlled Systems Bernhard KaiserHasso-Plattner-Institute for Software Systems Engineering at the University of Potsdam,Dept. for Software Engineering and Quality Management, Prof. -Dr. -Helmert-Str. 2-3, Potsdam
  5. Fault Trees by NikolaosLimnios, University of Technology of Compiègne, France ISBN: 9781905209309 pages 49-63
  6. Fault Tree Handbook by William E. Vesely, N. H. Roberts
  7. Fault tree handbook by NUREG-0492,1981, N H Roberts, W E Vesely, D F Haasl & FF Goldberg 1981
  8. System Reliability Theory (2nd ed), Wiley, 2004 ,Marvin Rausand
  9. Condition-based fault tree analysis (CBFTA): A new method for improved fault tree analysis (FTA), reliability and safety calculations [An article from: Reliability Engineering and System Safety]
  10. Reliability & Risk assessment, Longman Scientific & Technical 1993, J D Andrews & T R Moss
  11. hq. nasa. gov/office/codeq/doctree/fthb. pdf
  12. weibull. com/basics/fault-tree/index. htm
  13. Fault tree analysis by Colin S. Howat
  14. fault-tree. net/papers/clemens-fta-tutorial. pdf
  15. fault-tree. net/papers/andrews-fta-tutor. pdf
  16. fault-tree. net/papers/ericson-fta-tutorial. pdf
  17. isograph-software. com/ftpover. htm
Index Terms

Computer Science
Information Sciences

Keywords

Fault Tree Risk Assessment Faults Prioritisation Decision Making