A technology for self-optimizing static program analyses

The topic of CROSSING-PI Eric Bodden's new research project has come at the right time: Faced with an increasing number of successful attacks, the European Union plans to pass the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) in 2024. The aim is to protect consumers and companies that buy products with digital components. By introducing mandatory cyber security requirements for digital products, the act aims to ensure the prevention of software attacks from the start of development throughout the entire life cycle of the product. Many companies that develop software are therefore facing a fundamental change in their approach to software development and need highly automated tools to accomplish this task, since manufacturers will have to apply the rules 36 months after their entry into force.

Bodden's ERC project “Self-Optimising Static Program Analysis” (SOSA) focuses on automating the process of providing relevant warnings for any given application context. The system is designed to work very efficiently and report alerts within a short time frame. Developers can receive reports for the programmes they deploy without the need for manual intervention. This project is the first of its kind to address the idea of creating these analyses fully automatically. This is to be achieved by developing static analyses that not only analyse and optimise programs but also themselves.

Further information

Media release of the University of Paderborn
Media release of the European Research Council