Benefits and Challenges in the Use of Case Studies for Security Requirements Engineering Methods

Abstract

The premise of this article is that pilot case studies in security requirements engineering provide both benefits and challenges to the underlying research, education, and technology transition effort. Over the past four years we have worked with seven development groups in five organizations in the process of refining and transitioning the Security Quality Requirements Engineering (SQUARE) and SQUARE-Lite methods into practice. These experiences have provided the opportunity to step back and assess the use of pilots in conjunction with student projects to support method refinement and technology transition. Although SQUARE and SQUARE-Lite are concerned with security requirements, the benefits and challenges that have been observed would apply to many security research and technology transition efforts. We itemize and justify these benefits and challenges and discuss their practical relevance and application to ensuring adequate information assurance protection.