# Contextualisation of Data Flow Diagrams for security analysis

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.04098 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.04098/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 7 Jun 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Towards automation of threat modeling based on a semantic model of attack patterns and weaknesses](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.04231/) (2021)
- [A set of semantic data flow diagrams and its security analysis based on ontologies and knowledge graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.11198/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Data flow diagrams (DFDs) are popular for sketching systems for subsequent threat modelling. Their limited semantics make reasoning about them difficult, but enriching them endangers their simplicity and subsequent ease of take up. We present an approach for reasoning about tainted data flows in design-level DFDs by putting them in context with other complementary usability and requirements models. We illustrate our approach using a pilot study, where tainted data flows were identified without any augmentations to either the DFD or its complementary models.