In my first post here in this Security blog series, I explained how we do threat analysis and how we map potential security threats to software architecture. With this second post, I would like to share with you a more technical view of security. Get ready to roll your sleeves up for this hands-on session on securing an Internet of Things (IoT) application.
The first thing I would like to introduce is how to secure a document server. Please refer to the following illustration:
Access to a content database over an HTTP server from a single-sign-on (SSO) application
Like all hardware, applications and services in the communications and IT world, the Internet of things (IoT) must be secure. Think about all those billions of devices connected in 10 year. Now think about all the rich, personal data collected on those devices, flying over networks, stored on virtualized servers, and accessed by various end-users of the data. We need to consider the security implications of IoT devices and the systems surrounding them. I postulate that the risks are greatest where sensor data are combined with customer information are stored in large volumes on enterprise servers (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Security risk level for a simple Internet-of-things architecture [Source: Analysys Mason, 2012]
The claims processing automation project at the German insurance company HanseMerkur was the first joint project of inubit and Bosch Software Innovations – and it turned out not only to be a successful kick start for our customer, but also proof of the good interplay of our Business Process Management (BPM) and Business Rules Management (BRM) Suites. On December 19, the jury of the Global Awards for Excellence in BPM & Workflow honored the project with the Europe Gold Award. The jury stressed particularly that thanks to the automated processes on the basis of the inubit Suite (BPM) and Visual Rules (BRM), HanseMerkur was able to handle revenue growth of 15-20 percent and comparable growth in the number of cases without increasing staff. Nearly 30% of claims processing can now be issued automatically.
Google has done ‘it’ for more than 10 years; amazon has adapted it, and we will start from now. I am talking about data analysis, with data mining mechanisms. My first ‘fault’ is to name data mining only, but calling ‘it’ knowledge discovery in database (KDD), would be more correct, I guess. Data mining only describes the analysis process. But there is a more comprehensive process to do before data mining activities can be started. Before I describe the KDD-process, I would also like to mention, that different types of data mining categories exist, which represent a different algorithm each. So we have to watch out when discussing data mining and KDD, and not to loose sight of the wood for the trees. The picture below illustrates the complete KDD process.
Last week, I did a 3-day workshop in Immenstaad (Germany) about arc42/architecture documentation. A total of four of these events took place in Immenstaad and Waiblingen in 2011, and I would like to thank all attendees for being a vivid part of it, for creating expressive examples of documentation, for sharing ideas with other workshop participants and me, and for discussing open issues.
Some workshop results
Just in case you don’t know what arc42 is: Basically, it is a lightweight proposal on how to structure software architecture artifacts, in order to provide documentation in a proven and tested way. An architectural overview as documentation for a new team member, for instance.
Documentation sounds quite boring. But the workshops have been spirited due to the fact that we did a lot of exercises in small groups. The participants – all Bosch Software Innovations employees involved in different projects – created example documentations of their current projects, and presented the results to each other. Thus all of us experienced that, essentially, documentation is very much about communication. Read more…
I have continued my interview series with James Taylor, Decision Management Expert. This time we´ve talked about dynamic and event-driven applications and why those kinds of applications need business rules and need those rules to be managed effectively.
Enjoy listening James Taylor´s thoughts on this approach and on our efforts to develop a platform, which helps to quickly set-up dynamic event-driven applications. Read more…
On January 1, 2011, Innovations Software Technology will become Bosch Software Innovations. Yet, the name change will not be trivial; Bosch’s new software division will have a profound impact on the industries they serve as well as Innovations’ customers. Bosch Software Innovations will become a new and ground breaking brand with product offerings in an entirely new technology sector: The Internet of things. Read more…
The leading idea of Innovations has always been to involve business experts by using the business rules approach in the application development reality. As architect, I´ve been joining bosch Software Innovations right at the start of the company. Naturally, we´ve always intensely been experiencing and implementing how business rules can be used profitably. Read more…
In my previous blog post, I presented the role of business rules in Event Processing. In this post, I discuss four possible combinations of business event processing that enrich BPM processes. The BPMN within the receiving process might be any of the receiving event shapes.
External Event Monitoring
In this pattern, a process reacts to the detection of a basic or complex external event. Events in these cases can be a simple straightforward event such as detecting a significant market or weather event. Read more…
As Innovations now finally has an official blog I’m happy to contribute articles related to my every day work at Innovations. As a start I’ll write about the architecture of the Innovations Credit Risk Rating Platform (CRR Platform). If you are interested in the business background of Credit Risk Rating I suggest having a look at the Innovations website. Although most projects are using the Credit Risk Rating Platform in a Basel-II context it is also used in leasing-, credit application- or other domains that deal with the rating of risks. That’s why the CRR Platform is internally and externally also referred to as the Risk Rating Platform. Read more…
