Toward Trustworthy Software Systems

Abstract

Organizations such as Microsoft's Trusted Computing Group and Sun Microsystems' Liberty Alliance are currently leading the debate on "trustworthy computing." However, these and other initiatives primarily focus on security, and trustworthiness depends on many other attributes. To address this problem, the University of Oldenburg's TrustSoft Graduate School aims to provide a holistic view of trustworthiness in software - one that considers system construction, evaluation/analysis, and certification - in an interdisciplinary setting. Component technology is the foundation of our research program. The choice of a component architecture greatly influences the resulting software systems' nonfunctional properties. We are developing new methods for the rigorous design of trustworthy software systems with predictable, provable, and ultimately legally certifiable system properties. We are well aware that it is impossible to build completely error-free complex software systems. We therefore complement fault-prevention and fault-removal techniques with fault-tolerance methods that introduce redundancy and diversity into software systems. Quantifiable attributes such as availability, reliability, and performance call for analytical prediction models, which require empirical studies for calibration and validation. To consider the legal aspects of software certification and liability, TrustSoft integrates the disciplines of computer science and computer law.