Formal aspects of security

de Peter Y. A. Ryan, Steve Schneider

Preface Formal Aspects of Security (FASec) was held at Royal Holloway, University of London, 18–20 December 2002. The occasion celebrated a Jubilee, namely the 25thanniversaryoftheestablishmentofBCS-FACS,theFormalAspectsofC- puting Science specialist group of the British Computer Society. FASec is one of a series of events organized by BCS-FACS to highlight the use of formal me- ods, emphasize their relevance to modern computing, and promote their wider application. As the architecture model of information systems evolves from - connected PCs,throughintranet (LAN) and internet (WAN), to mobile internet and grids, security becomes increasingly critical to all walks of society: c- merce, ?nance, health, transport, defence and science. It is no surprise therefore that security is one of the fastest-growing research areas in computer science. Theaudience ofFASec includes thosein the formalmethods community who have(orwouldliketodevelop)adeeper interestinsecurity,andthoseinsecurity who would like to understand how formal methods can make important cont- butions to some aspects of security. The scope of FASec is deliberately broad andcoverstopics that rangefrommodelling securityrequirementsthroughsp- i?cation, analysis, and veri?cations of cryptographic protocols to certi?ed code. The discussions at FASec 2002 encompassed many aspects of security: from theoretical foundations through support tools and on to applications. Formal methods has made a substantial contribution to this exciting ?eld in the past.