Enhancing security requirements specification with SECRET-SCORE: A template-driven and ontology-based approach

In our rapidly changing world, where technology is integral to every aspect of our lives, ensuring our systems’ security is paramount. As industries become increasingly interconnected, the risk of security vulnerabilities and targeted attacks increases. Establishing robust security requirements is crucial to safeguard sensitive information and protect against malicious threats. To simplify and improve the quality of these requirements, researchers have proposed templates or boilerplates that can guide requirements engineers when defining requirements. However, this approach can help define the requirement structure without suggesting what security requirements to define to have a well-secured system. This paper proposes a guided strategy that combines (i) SECRET (SECurity REquirements specification Template) for a guided specification of each requirement and (ii) SCORE (Security Criteria Ontology for security Requirements Engineering) to suggest additional security requirements. We implemented the SECRET-SCORE approach using an autocomplete service that connects the SECRET template to the SCORE ontology. We then used the service to create a new language for security requirements in the VariaMos online tool. Finally, to test the usability of the implemented language, we conducted a usability test that reported high results in usability and user satisfaction with the developed tool.