Verification of secure distributed systems in higher order logic: A modular approach using generic components

Abstract

A generalization of D. McCullough's (1987; 1988) restrictiveness model is given as the basis for providing security properties for distributed system designs. This generalization is mechanized for an event-based model of computer systems in the HOL (higher order logic) system to prove the composability of the model and several other properties about the model. A set of generalized classes of system components is developed and it is shown for which families of user views they satisfy the model. Using these classes, a collection of general system components that are specializations of one of these classes is delineated and it is shown that the specializations also satisfy the security property. A sample distributed secure system is presented along with an example of how the proposed mechanized verification system can be used to verify such designs.<>