Security and autonomic management in system of systems

Abstract

A system of systems integrates systems that function independently but are networked together for a period of time to achieve a higher goal. These systems evolve over time and have emergent properties. Therefore, even with security controls in place, it is difficult to maintain a required level of security for the system of systems as a whole because uncertainties may arise at runtime. Uncertainties can occur from internal factors, such as malfunctions of a system, or from external factors, such as malicious attacks. Self-adaptation is an approach that allows a system to adapt in the face of such uncertainties without human intervention. This work outlines the progress made towards security mitigation in system of systems using a generic autonomic management system to assist engineers in developing self-adaptive systems. The manuscript describes the proposed system design, its implementation as part of the Eclipse Arrowhead framework, and its functionality in a smart agriculture use case. The system is designed and implemented in such a way that it can be reused and extended for a variety of use cases without requiring major changes.