TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SECURE SOFTWARE

System development projects in health care have not properly addressed the issues of availability, confidentiality and integrity. The safety critical aspects of health care have not been well recognised in the context of information systems, as opposed to medical devices where considerable effort has been made to ensure the 'correctness' of the device before it is authorised for use. Consideration should be given at the start of the development process to the particular requirements of the project and the project should be structured to ensure that the specific functional requirements for security are satisfied. In addition the development process itself must be conducted in a rigorous fashion in order to ensure-and to demonstrate-that the end product has the appropriate degree of 'correctness'. Suitable tools and techniques will be required to assist the efficiency and the integrity of this process.