BAIT3153 Software Project Management

Tutorial 8: System Dependability and Critical Systems

Question 1
Identify and briefly explain the FOUR (4) principles of “Dependability” of an information system.

Question 2 [Jan 2018, Q4c]

System dependability includes the dimensions of availability, reliability and security.
Identify ANY TWO (2) most important dependability dimensions for the ATM system. For each
dimension that you identified, justify why it is important for the ATM system.

Security
Authenticate User : validates the 6-digits PIN code. After 3 attempts (wrong PIN), the account was
locked.

Availability
Withdraw service available at any time

Reliability
Update account balance must be accurate after withdraw or fund transfer transactions performed.

Question 3 [April 2017 (B), Q4c]

Compare and contrast the Safety-critical systems and Mission-critical systems

 A safety-critical system is a system whose failure endangers the safety of lives or the environment
whereas for a mission-critical system it results in a failure to fulfil the system’s purpose.
 Failure in a safety-critical system may result in injury, loss of life or major environmental damage.
E.g., a control system for chemical manufacturing plant, nuclear reactor management system (e.g.
SHOCK II), flight control system (auto-pilot), and sewerage control system.
 Failure in a mission-critical system may result in the failure of some goal-directed activity. E.g., a
navigational system for a spacecraft, rocket-launcher system, probes to Mars.
BAIT3153 Software Project Management

Question 4 [April 2016, Q4c]

Explain what is a safety-critical system? Give an example of a safety-critical system and suggest a
strategy for enhancing survivability of that system.

A safety-critical system is one whose failure may result in injury, loss of life or major environmental damage.

3 strategies are used to enhance survivability

Resistance to attack
Ability of a software to prevent the capability of an attacker to execute an attack against it.
Attack recognition
Ability of a software to detect and analyze an attack
Recovery from damage caused by attack
Ability of a software / hardware to rollback to original state after undergoing an attack.

Question 5 [JAN2018, Q4c]

“A software system is reliable, but may not necessarily be safe”.
Justify the above statement by discussing TWO (2) reasons from system dependability.
• It may incorporate fault tolerant features so that it can provide continuous service even if faults
occur. However, fault-tolerant systems are not necessary safe, the software may still malfunction
and cause system behavior which results in an accident.
• The specification may be incomplete in that it does not describe the required behavior of the
system in some critical situations.
• Hardware malfunctions may cause system to behave in an unpredictable way and may present the
software with an unanticipated environment. When components are close to failure, they may
behave erratically and generate signals that are outside the ranges that can be handled by the
software.
• The operator of the system may generate inputs that are not individually incorrect but which, in
particular situations, can lead to a system malfunction.
• (ANY Acceptable answer from student).