Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: EPICS Software Supply Chain Risk Management (SSCRM)

["Evans, Richard K. \(GRC-H000\) via Tech-talk" <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>]

Jonathan, 

Thank you so much for your response. I must confess that my intent in this post was originally only to talk about software safety in the (NIST) context of safe from “vulnerabilities” due to “malicious code” from “bad actors” and such as Open Source Software, but your work on showing how EPICS can also be used in safety critical applications to mitigate what we would call “hazardous” operations is equally important topic to us as well.

Is it your position that any software that has been demonstrated to be “safe” for use in mitigating risks to personnel health and safety is also safe from external vulnerabilities due to the development process? That seems logical to me. However the verification process you are referring to seems like it is highly dependent on the specific application and specific integration of otherwise established code. My goal today is only to get feedback on the (NIST) trustworthiness of the developer (ANL) and repository as (NIST) safe for use at NASA in non-safety critical applications. 

That said, thanks again.. I’m saving your reply for after we’ve solved the supply chain reliability question and are working on using EPICS in safety critical applications to mitigate hazardous operations. 

Cheers!

/Rich

I’m eager to establish a process for using EPICS in 

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From: Jonathan Jacky <jon.p.jacky at gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2023 6:27:27 PM
To: Evans, Richard K. (GRC-H000) <richard.k.evans at nasa.gov>
Cc: S Banerian <banerian at uw.edu>; tech-talk at aps.anl.gov <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: EPICS Software Supply Chain Risk Management (SSCRM)

 

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> "Given that EPICS is open source and used around the world, How do you know that EPICS is safe?"

> Question 2 - Has this question been addressed by anyone previously? .. and are there any charts or papers that I can cite and/or reference when I talk with the NASA CIO folks about EPICS and SSCRM.

Several years ago, staff at the University of Washington Medical Cyclotron Facility, and faculty and staff at the University of Washington Department of Computer Science and Engineering, did a multi-year project to apply modern formal verification methods and technology both to the EPICS core and an EPICS application program (an EPICS database on an IOC).  

The project and its results were reported at the 2017 ICALEPS meeting.    The slides give a quick overview of the project:

https://accelconf.web.cern.ch/icalepcs2017/papers/tudpl02.pdf   (paper, 7 pages)

https://accelconf.web.cern.ch/icalepcs2017/talks/tudpl02_talk.pdf (13 slides)

- Jonathan Jacky