A Formulation of the Potential for Communication Condition using C2KA

TL;DR

This paper introduces a mathematical framework based on C2KA to identify and analyze the potential for covert communication channels in systems, considering both shared environments and external stimuli.

Contribution

It formulates the potential for communication condition using C2KA, extending existing methods to include external stimuli in covert channel analysis.

Findings

The potential for communication can be preserved after system modifications.

The approach considers external stimuli, unlike previous shared environment-only models.

Provides a formal mathematical basis for covert channel detection.

Abstract

An integral part of safeguarding systems of communicating agents from covert channel communication is having the ability to identify when a covert channel may exist in a given system and which agents are more prone to covert channels than others. In this paper, we propose a formulation of one of the necessary conditions for the existence of covert channels: the potential for communication condition. Then, we discuss when the potential for communication is preserved after the modification of system agents in a potential communication path. Our approach is based on the mathematical framework of Communicating Concurrent Kleene Algebra (C2KA). While existing approaches only consider the potential for communication via shared environments, the approach proposed in this paper also considers the potential for communication via external stimuli.