A Genetic Graphical Specification Environment for Security Protocol Modelling

摘要

Designing and implanting security protocols is a difficult task. A graphical specification environment helps one to cope with this complexity by enabling the visualization of hierarchical message structures and providing suitable abstraction and encapsulation so that designers can retain a high-level perspective while also being free to hone in on the details of the design. The graphical interface framework described in this paper isolates the critical issues in a protocol design and presents the user with an appropriate level of detail. This is accomplished through the use of a high-level view of the message flow and a more detailed component view that shows the structure of each protocol message. Each view can be easily manipulated by using standard graphical interface mechanisms such as drag-and-drop and context specific pop-up menus. An added advantage of this interface is that it is possible to connect to analysis or code generation routines via a GGSE-API.