A comparative review of i∗-based and use case-based security modelling initiatives

Abstract

Security requirements elicitation and modelling are integral for the successful development of secure systems. However, there are a lot of similar yet not identical approaches that currently exist for security requirements modelling, which is confusing for researchers and practitioners hence some characterisation will be useful to give a better overview and understanding of advantages and disadvantages of various approaches. This paper provides a comparative review of i*-based and use case - based security modelling initiatives, using a characterisation framework with several dimensions. Our findings show that both categories of initiatives have significant conceptual similarities in the aspect of modelling language and method process, and coverage of security requirements modelling notions. They have conceptual differences in the aspect of: representation perspective, kind of security requirements engineering activities that are supported, the quality of specification that is generated and the specification techniques used, and the degree of support for software evolution.