Searching for a solution: engineering tradeoffs and the evolution of provably secure protocols

Abstract

Tradeoffs are an important part of engineering security. Protocol security is important. So are efficiency and cost. The paper provides an early framework for handling such aspects in a uniform way based on combinatorial optimisation techniques. BAN logic is viewed as both a specification and proof system and as a "protocol programming language". The paper shows how evolutionary search in the form of genetic algorithms can be utilised to "grow" correct and efficient BAN protocols and shows how goals and assumptions can co-evolve, effectively engaging in "specification synthesis".