Running head: SOFTWARE APOCALYPSE 1

Software Apocalypse: New Coding Approaches

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Software security is crucial to the national security of any country. The recently alleged

cyber-attacks by Russia and China and the increasing specter of cyber terror attacks prove the

point. However, bugs within systems that are likely to cause critical system failure are more

complicated than terror attacks. Such failure can be hugely catastrophic and need to be

addressed.

One of the legal issues raised is on the security of coding. Software created through

physical coding run some of the most critical services in the United States such as 911 services,

airplane flight management, and automatic cars. Human beings are prone to errors and in these

cases; errors may be catastrophic. A coding error that results in a national outage of power may

result in deaths all over the country. Despite all the security measures enforced by the FAA, it

is still nearly impossible to capture all the bugs in a sophisticated program coded physically.

When human error results in death or injury, the legal issue of negligence and damages arises.

This is why Toyota was successfully sued. The company was sued due to an error that resulted

from over-coding the software that ran its cars.

Another legal issue raised is the significant cost of FAA regulations in the coding

process. Laws created in the Senate govern regulations set by federal agencies. The FAA

requires any software that is critical to the security of a system be traceable in the code for the

system. The need to specify in writing what the software is going to do precisely is also an

additional burden created by the legal system. These requirements significantly increase the

cost of coding and the complexity required by human coders to do the job effectively.

Another issue that may be solved legally is the resistance of coders to new coding

techniques that may make critical systems safer. Coders are refusing to embrace model-based

designs the same way they resisted more modern code-writing techniques such as C. The

reason behind this resistance is the feeling that they are losing to the general population. They

also feel the new techniques may be too complex for them but may allow people without core
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skills to code. This resistance may be legally tackled from the point of security. If the new

model based system offers better security than physical coding, then the government may act

to compel coders to use the system.

The legal issue of security of coding can be mitigated by the use of model-based

approaches. The model basis uses automatic coding that is less prone to bugs. It also allows

coders to view in real time the product of the coding process. Laws requiring the use of model-

based approaches should be enacted for security reasons. The model would make systems

better able to foresee situations such as the 911 problem experienced in Washington State.

An amendment to the law that gives the FAA powers to regulate coding can be used to

solve the second legal issue. An option would be to add a clause that allows the model-based

approach to coding to be used in place of documenting every code of security features. The

result of a model-based approach satisfies the security requirement automatically. The fact that

it does this automatically allows coders to tweak the system without the burden of having to

rewrite the security feature. This reduces the costs and complexity of coding while allowing

maintaining the security standards present.

The government can pass a law requiring the coding of critical systems be done using

model-based approaches. This law can be enacted on the ground of national security. Failure

of essential systems can cause panic and raise fears of possible terrorist cyber-attacks. Such a

law would force coders to embrace the new models because they offer better security and

certainty of the product.