Secure Engineering Support Tool

Modern systems and software engineering are supported by a wide range of automated tools.  Requirements management software is commonly available as a means to capture and define requirements, analyse system and software dependencies and derive lower level requirements.  Very often, these same tools support system and software models that can be used to conduct feasibility studies, develop designs and support traceability from requirements through to test.  These tools intentionally support an integrated product development life cycle and improve delivery through best practice development.

Despite the range of integrated tools available, none of the current tools include an integrated package for system and software security engineering (SSSE).  SSSE involves two fundamental and inter-related processes that provide the foundation for follow-on security engineering practice.  These are:

• Cyber-security Risk Assessment; and
• Security requirements analysis.

The Secure Engineering Support Tool (SEST) tool is intended to first support the space systems development challenges encountered by the European Space Agency (ESA) programs, where cyber-security is already an established concern.  The SEST tool helps bridging the gap between system and software engineering processes and equivalent security processes that exist today within ESA.

SEST has been developed, as a first version, within a ESA GSTP contract (2016-2018) and on a second version, with a CCN of the same contract during 2019-2020.