Weak Behavioral Equivalences for Verifying Secure and Performance-Aware Component-Based Systems

Component-based systems are characterized by several orthogonal requirements, ranging from security to quality of service, which may demand for the use of opposite strategies and interfering mechanisms. To achieve a balanced tradeoff among these aspects, we have previously proposed the use of a predictive methodology, which encompasses classical tools such as the noninterference approach to security analysis and standard performance evaluation techniques. The former tool, which is based on equivalence checking, is used to reveal functional dependencies among component behaviors, while the latter tool, which relies on reward-based numerical analysis, is used to study the quantitative impact of these dependencies on the system performance. In order to strengthen the relation between these two different analysis techniques we advocate the use of performance-aware notions of behavioral equivalence as a formal means for detecting functional and performance dependencies and then pinpointing the metrics at the base of a balanced tradeoff.