A Solution Model and Tool for Supporting the Negotiation of Security Decisions in E-Business Collaborations

Sharing, comparing and negotiating security-related actions and requirements across businesses has always been a complicated matter. Issues arise due to semantic gaps, disparity in security documentation and formats, and incomplete security-related information during negotiations, to say the least. As collaborations amongst e-businesses in particular increase, there is a growing, implicit need to address these issues and ease companies' deliberations on security. Our research has investigated this topic in substantial detail, and in this paper we present a novel solution model and tool for supporting businesses through these tasks. Initial evaluation results and feedback from interviewed security professionals affirm the use and suitability of our proposals in supporting the security actions negotiation process.