Analyzing uncertainty in TG protection graphs with TG/MC

We introduce TG/MC, a Monte-Carlo approach for evaluating the impact of uncertainty about vulnerabilities upon forecasts of security for a real-world system modeled by a protection graph. A TG/MC model defines a vulnerability as a potential change to an otherwise safe initial protection graph that, if exploited, leads to an unauthorized state, a violation of the system’s security policy through the application of TG rules. TG/MC captures uncertainties about vulnerabilities as probability distributions and forecasts the probability of a specific security violation. TG/MC extends beyond the rigid yes/no analysis of safety in a TG protection graph to consider uncertainty in questions of security for real-world systems.