Refactoring to improve the security quality of use case models

An apparatus for improving security of a use case model, the apparatus comprising:

• processing circuitry configured to:
• identify security bad smells from a database;
• generate a set of detection rules according to the identified security bad smells and quality metrics;
• apply the set of detection rules to the use case model to detect bad smells in the use case model;
• transform the use case model into an XML representation;
• generate first quality metrics of the XML representation;
• refactor, using the security bad smells, the XML representation of the use case model to generate a refactored XML representation of the use case model;
• export the refactored XML representation back to a refactored use case model;
• perform a behavior consistency verification processing by processing the refactored use case models;
• generate second quality metrics of the refactored XML representation;
• compare the first quality metrics with the second quality metrics;
• and
• generate, based on the comparison of the first quality metrics with the second quality metrics, a quality improvement assessment of security for the use case model.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

• identify security bad smells from a database;
• generate a set of detection rules according to the identified security bad smells and quality metrics;
• apply the set of detection rules to a use case model to detect bad smells in the use case model;
• transform the use case model into an XML representation;
• generate first quality metrics of the XML representation;
• refactor, using the security bad smells, the XML representation of the use case model to generate a refactored XML representation of the use case model;
• export the refactored XML representation back to a refactored use case model;
• perform a behavior consistency verification processing by processing the refactored use case models;
• generate second quality metrics of the refactored XML representation;
• compare the first quality metrics with the second quality metrics;
• and
• generate, based on the comparison of the first quality metrics with the second quality metrics, a quality improvement assessment of security for the use case model.