The STAC (Security Toolbox: Attacks & Countermeasures) ontology

We present a security ontology to help non-security expert software designers or developers to: (1) design secure software and, (2) to understand and be aware of main security concepts and issues. Our security ontology defines the main security concepts such as attacks, countermeasures, security properties and their relationships. Countermeasures can be cryptographic concepts (encryption algorithm, key management, digital signature, hash function), security tools or security protocols. The purpose of this ontology is to be reused in numerous domains such as security of web applications, network management or communication networks (sensor, cellular and wireless). The ontology and a user interface (to use the ontology) are available online.