Survivability analysis of network specifications

Abstract

Survivability is the ability of a system to maintain a set of essential services despite the presence of abnormal events, such as faults and intrusions. Ensuring system survivability has increased in importance as critical infrastructures have become heavily dependent on computers. In this paper, we present a systematic method for performing survivability analysis of networks. A system architect injects fault and intrusion events into a given specification of a network and then visualizes the effects of the injected events in the form of scenario graphs. In our method, we automatically generate scenario graphs using model checking. Out method enables further global analysis, such as reliability analysis, where mathematical techniques used in different domains are combined in a systematic manner. We illustrate our ideas on an abstract model of the United States Payment System.