Analysis of security protocols

Several approaches have been developed for analyzing security protocols. Most formal approaches are based on a set of assumptions commonly referred to as the "Dolev-Yao model." In this paper, we use a formalism based on multiset rewriting to describe these modeling assumptions and explain how they are used in protocol analysis. The unifying formalism makes it possible to discuss general optimizations and protocol simplifications that may be used in a variety of approaches. We also summarize some projects using the Dolev-Yao model and explain connections between our formalism and others in current use.