An algebraic approach for reasoning about information flow

Arthur Américo*, Mário S. Alvim, Annabelle McIver

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference proceeding contributionpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper concerns the analysis of information leaks in security systems. We address the problem of specifying and analyzing large systems in the (standard) channel model used in quantitative information flow (QIF). We propose several operators which match typical interactions between system components. We explore their algebraic properties with respect to the security-preserving refinement relation defined by Alvim et al. and McIver et al. [1, 2]. We show how the algebra can be used to simplify large system specifications in order to facilitate the computation of information leakage bounds. We demonstrate our results on the specification and analysis of the Crowds Protocol. Finally, we use the algebra to justify a new algorithm to compute leakage bounds for this protocol.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationFormal Methods
Subtitle of host publication22nd International Symposium, FM 2018, Held as Part of the Federated Logic Conference, FloC 2018, Proceedings
EditorsKlaus Havelund, Jan Peleska, Bill Roscoe, Erik de Vink
Place of PublicationCham
PublisherSpringer, Springer Nature
Pages55-72
Number of pages18
ISBN (Electronic)9783319955827
ISBN (Print)9783319955810
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2018
Event22nd International Symposium on Formal Methods, FM 2018 Held as Part of the Federated Logic Conference, FloC 2018 - Oxford, United Kingdom
Duration: 15 Jul 201817 Jul 2018

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume10951 LNCS
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference22nd International Symposium on Formal Methods, FM 2018 Held as Part of the Federated Logic Conference, FloC 2018
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityOxford
Period15/07/1817/07/18

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