Security Via Related Disciplines

Abstract The Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) System Security Engineering Research Roadmap recommends that systems security research proceed in part by studying systems engineering methods, processes, and tools (MPTs) that are well established in disciplines that are related to security or have similar goals or objectives. Successful MPTs in these areas should be examined for possible application to systems security. If the MPTs in the toolset of nearby disciplines seem to be applicable to system security, this could provide a quick and easy method of expanding the toolset of metrics currently available to SSE. This study follows the recommendation with a critical examination of methods for diversity in reactor protection systems where the goal is safety. It adapts the reactor-specific method for achieving diversity for the purposes of safety into a method for systems security engineering that may be applied generally to any system.