APPARATUS: Reasoning about security requirements in the internet of things

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) can be seen as the main driver towards an era of ubiquitous computing. Taking into account the scale of IoT, the number of security issues that emerge are unprecedented, therefore the need for proposing new methodologies for elaborating about security in IoT systems is undoubtedly crucial and this is recognised by both academia and the industry alike. In this work we present Apparatus, a conceptual model for reasoning about security in IoT systems through the lens of Security Requirements Engineering. Apparatus is architecture-oriented and describes an IoT system as a cluster of nodes that share network connections. The information of the system is documented in a textual manner, using Javascript Notation Object (JSON) format, in order to elicit security requirements. To demonstrate its usage the security requirements of a temperature monitor system are identified and a first application of Apparatus is exhibited.