Developing and validating domain specific languages for cyberattack modeling and simulations

This thesis explores the potential of domain-specific languages (DSLs) to enhance the accuracy, efficiency, and expressiveness of cyberattack modeling and simulation. Motivated by the increasing sophistication of cyber threats, this work addresses the limitations of traditional modeling approaches by developing and validating two novel DSLs: one tailored for vehicular systems and another for the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) domain. These languages provide specialized vocabulary and syntax for describing attack patterns, system behaviors, and defense mechanisms concisely and straightforwardly. Through a series of experiments and case studies, this research demonstrates the effectiveness of these DSLs in capturing the complexities of real-world cyberattacks. These languages enable the automatic generation of attack graphs from system architecture models, streamlining threat identification and enhancing the alignment of security measures with established frameworks for cybersecurity professionals. This thesis contributes to the advancement of cyberattack modeling and simulation techniques, providing cybersecurity professionals with tools to express, analyze, and predict the behavior of cyberattacks.