Survivability as a Tool for Evaluating Open Source Software.

摘要

This thesis explores the application of traditional survivability analysis to the open source software (OSS) development process. It postulates that combat systems face potential threats from cyber warfare professionals aiming to manipulate software embedded in the systems. The research highlights current Department of Defense (DOD) interest in OSS, and explains a method for evaluating the capability of OSS programs to withstand cyber warfare attacks. Survivability concepts are demonstrated in a scenario involving an adversary inserting malicious code into the source repository of FlightGear, an open source flight simulator. Analysis is conducted on five open source programs to illustrate commonality in the evaluation process. It is determined that survivability analysis is a feasible method for OSS software evaluation, and could be used as a tool to compare OSS alternatives.