Protocols are programs too: the meta-heuristic search for security protocols

Protocol security is important. So are efficiency and cost. This paper provides an early framework for handling such aspects in a uniform way based on combinatorial optimisation techniques. The belief logic of Burrows, Abadi and Needham (BAN logic) is viewed as both a specification and proof system and as a ‘protocol programming language’. The paper shows how simulated annealing and genetic algorithms can be used to generate correct and efficient BAN protocols. It also investigates the use of parsimonious and redundant representations.