Security at software architecture level: A systematic mapping study

Background: Non functional requirements (NFRs) are greatly influenced by the architectural choices and designs made during architecture phase. Security is an important concern in today's world in most applications. Security, like other NFRs, is also related with software architecture. A lot of work is being reported to deal with security at architecture level. Aim: This paper synthesizes the work that has been reported about security at architecture level. Results: This paper reports a mapping study conducted to see the quantity and type of work reported about security at software architecture level. Results show that most of the work in this area is about proposing and evaluating a solution. Conclusion: The mapping study identified the efforts that have been reported about security at architecture level. The use of systematic mapping technique can bring a significant contribution to research areas and based on the systematic maps, not only state of art of an area can be identified at an abstract level but it can also suggest future directions for research.