Software Engineering Institute

Requirements engineering, a vital component in successful project development, often does not include sufficient attention to security concerns. Studies show that up-front attention to security can save the economy billions of dollars, yet security concerns are often treated as an afterthought to functional requirements. Industry can thus benefit from a model to examine security requirements in the development stages of the production life cycle.

This report presents the Security Quality Requirements (SQUARE) Methodology for eliciting and prioritizing security requirements in software development projects, which was developed by the Software Engineering Institute's Networked Systems Survivability (NSS) Program. The methodology's steps are explained, and results from its application in recent case studies are examined. The NSS Program continues to develop SQUARE, which has proven effective in helping organizations understand their security posture and produce products with verifiable security requirements.