Re-engineering Security as a Crosscutting Concern

Abstract

We have re-engineered a third-party application using a reflective security architecture that allows security to be treated as a crosscutting concern. This has resulted in a considerable reduction in tangling between application code and security code. Prior to the re-engineering, the application was secured using a conventional approach based upon the application of inheritance and the proxy pattern, and we are thus able to compare both approaches. Our experience highlights some general points that are applicable to any attempt to engineer security using advanced separation of concerns technology and some possible improvements to Kava, used to implement the crosscutting concerns.

A Taxonomy Of Aspect-Oriented Security

“…Hence the flexibility and extensibility of the aspect-orientated paradigm is highly conducive to these types of modifications and extensions. (Rits, 2003), (Robinson et al, 2004), , , (Shreyas, 2003), , (Viega et al, 2001), , (Welch and Stroud, 2003),…”

A Modularity and Extensibility Analysis on Authorization Frameworks

“…Welch and Stroud [42] propose an architectural model for modularizing security concerns using reflective security architecture for distributed computing. They compare a thirdparty application secured through inheritance and the proxy pattern with a re-engineered version that uses bytecode manipulation, obtaining a code reduction and a degree of separation of concerns that is not complete.…”