An operating system (OS) interacts with the hardware and supports the execution of all the applications. As a result, its security is very critical. Many of the reported attacks to Internetbased systems have occurred through the OS (kernel and utilities). The security of individual execution time actions such as process creation, memory protection, and the general architecture of the OS are very important and we have previously presented patterns for these functions. We present here patterns for the representation of processes and threads, emphasizing their security aspects. Another pattern considers the selection of virtual address space structure. We finally present a pattern to control the power of administrators, a common source of security problems.

We have previously proposed a UML-based secure systems development methodology that uses patterns and architectural layers. We studied requirements and analysis aspects and combined analysis patterns with security patterns to build secure conceptual models. Here we extend this methodology to the design stage. Design artifacts provide a way to enforce security constraints. We consider the use of views, components, and distribution. B. Fernandez E., Sorgente T. and M. Larrondo-Petrie M. (2005). A UML-Based Methodology for Secure Systems: The Design Stage. In

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We are developing a methodology to build secure software for complex applications and its related support. This methodology considers the whole software lifecycle, uses security patterns, and is applied at all the architectural levels of the system. A main idea is that security principles should be applied at every stage and that each stage can be tested for compliance with security principles. Patterns help apply security principles. This chapter presents the current status of our work.