2.2.1.7 Assurance

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The existing strategy for software and system assurance is already defined by the Systems and software Quality Requirements and Evaluation (SQuaRE). It establishes a common framework for analysis and exchange of information related to system assurance and trustworthiness, and defines the following kinds of assurance that need to be addressed: Information Assurance (IA), Safety Assurance (SfA), Software Assurance (SwA), Mission Assurance (MA) and System Assurance (SysA).

Assurance does not yield binary true / false answers. Assurance is a measure of risk which is a probability or threat of damage, injury, liability, loss, or any other negative occurrence that is caused by external or internal vulnerabilities, and that may be avoided through preemptive action.1) Business Dictionary, Accessed 1 June 2020, http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/risk.html . Assurance is best handled using Structured Assurance Case Metamodels (SACMs) for each of the assurances detailed above. A DIDO community of interest (CoI) best interest is to provide assurance measurements of their software, especially those CoIs that are offering “coinage” products to provide formal SACM results.

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