QoP-ML: Quality of protection modelling language for cryptographic protocols

Cryptographic protocols can be realized on different levels of security. One can choose factors which have different impact on the overall system security. Traditionally, protocols have been configured with the strongest possible security mechanisms. Unfortunately, the strongest protection (especially in low resource devices) can lead to the denial of services. In such a situation the quality of protection models which scales the protection level depending on the specific requirements is used.In the article, we proposed the quality of protection modelling language (QoP-ML) which provides the modelling language for abstracting the cryptographic protocols. All of the security operations/mechanisms which are executed while running cryptographic protocols can be modelled with the QoP-ML. In the QoP-ML, the defined operations can be described by the security metrics which allow performing quality of protection evaluation. In the paper, the syntax and semantics of the Quality of Protection modelling language will be presented. Finally, the Needham–Schroeder public key protocol will be modelled by QoP-ML and their QoP evaluation will be discussed.