As a part of an ongoing effort to maintain you knowledgeable about our newest work, this weblog publish summarizes some current publications from the SEI within the areas of provide chain danger administration, technical debt, giant language fashions, quantum computing, acquisition, and trustworthiness in AI techniques. These publications spotlight the newest work of SEI technologists in these areas. This publish features a itemizing of every publication, creator(s), and hyperlinks the place they are often accessed on the SEI web site.

The Measurement Challenges in Software program Assurance and Provide Chain Danger Administration
by Nancy R. Mead, Carol Woody, and Scott Hissam

On this paper, the authors focus on the metrics wanted to foretell cybersecurity in open supply software program and the way requirements are wanted to make it simpler to use these metrics within the provide chain. The authors present examples of doubtless helpful metrics and underscore the necessity for knowledge assortment and evaluation to validate the metrics. They assert that defining metrics, gathering and analyzing knowledge as an instance their utility, and utilizing normal strategies requires unbiased collaborative work to realize the specified outcomes.
Learn the white paper.

Report back to the Congressional Protection Committees on Nationwide Protection Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Yr 2022 Part 835 Unbiased Research on Technical Debt in Software program-Intensive Methods
by Ipek Ozkaya, Forrest Shull, Julie B. Cohen, and Brigid O’Hearn

A staff from SEI performed an impartial research to fulfill the necessities of the Fiscal Yr 2022 Nationwide Protection Authorization Act (NDAA) Part 835, Unbiased Research on Technical Debt in Software program-Intensive Methods.

This report describes the conduct of the research, summarizes the technical developments noticed, and presents the ensuing suggestions. The research methodology features a literature assessment, a assessment of SEI stories developed for program stakeholders, deep dives on program knowledge from SEI engagements with Division of Protection (DoD) applications, and interviews performed utilizing the ten research components laid out in Part 835(b).

The research concludes that applications are conscious of the significance of managing technical debt. Moreover, quite a lot of DoD applications have established practices to actively handle technical debt. Throughout this research, the DoD revealed a number of steering paperwork that start to incorporate technical debt and technical debt administration as a necessary apply for profitable software program improvement. Research suggestions embody that the DoD should proceed to replace coverage/steering and empower applications to include technical debt practices as a part of their software program improvement actions whereas enabling analysis in improved device help and knowledge assortment.
View the report.

Assessing Alternatives for LLMs in Software program Engineering and Acquisition
By Stephany Bellomo, Shen Zhang, James Ivers, Julie B. Cohen, and Ipek Ozkaya

On this white paper, the authors study how determination makers, reminiscent of technical leads and program managers, can assess the health of huge language fashions (LLMs) to deal with software program engineering and acquisition wants. They introduce exemplar situations in software program engineering and software program acquisition, and so they establish widespread archetypes. The authors additionally describe widespread issues involving the usage of LLMs and enumerate ways for mitigating these issues. Utilizing these widespread issues and ways, the authors show how determination makers can assess the health of LLMs for their very own use circumstances by means of two examples.
Learn the white paper.

The Cybersecurity of Quantum Computing: 6 Areas of Analysis
By Tom Scanlon

Analysis and improvement of quantum computer systems continues to develop at a fast tempo. The U.S. authorities alone spent greater than $800 million on quantum info science analysis in 2022. Thomas Scanlon, who leads the info science group within the SEI CERT Division, was not too long ago invited to be a participant within the Workshop on Cybersecurity of Quantum Computing, co-sponsored by the Nationwide Science Basis (NSF) and the White Home Workplace of Science and Know-how Coverage, to look at the rising discipline of cybersecurity for quantum computing. On this SEI podcast, Scanlon discusses the best way to create the self-discipline of cyber safety of quantum computing and descriptions six areas of future analysis in quantum cybersecurity.
Hearken to the SEI podcast.

Learn Tom Scanlon’s weblog publish, which supplies a technical deep dive into this work.

Connecting Stakeholders for DoD Software program Methods
By Hasan Yasar

The Deputy Secretary of Protection authorised and signed the Division of Protection (DoD) Software program Modernization Technique on February 1, 2022. This act initiated a transformative journey for the division to ship strong software program capabilities on the tempo of evolving calls for. Although system complexity and stakeholder decentralization typically problem our potential to securely ship capabilities on time and on finances, fostering collaboration and facilitating open discussions about these challenges, strategizing, and devising actionable plans might be essential to overcoming them. This webcast highlights how the December 2023 DoD Weapon Methods Software program Summit options in addressing these challenges and offering us a possibility to collectively devise efficient options.

Attendees

• acquire an understanding for software program modernization technique
• uncover difficult areas for DoD weapon techniques
• observe and be taught enablers for fixing system complexity
• align your system’s goals along with your software program engineering practices
• acquire insights from key talks and periods

View the webcast.

Measuring the Trustworthiness of AI Methods
By Katherine-Marie Robinson, Carol J. Smith, and Alexandrea Steiner

The power of synthetic intelligence (AI) to companion with the software program engineer, physician, or warfighter will depend on whether or not these finish customers belief the AI system to companion successfully with them and ship the result promised. To construct applicable ranges of belief, expectations have to be managed for what AI can realistically ship. On this podcast from the SEI’s AI Division, Carol Smith, a senior analysis scientist specializing in human-machine interplay, joins design researchers Katie Robinson and Alex Steiner, to debate the best way to measure the trustworthiness of an AI system in addition to questions that a company ought to ask earlier than figuring out if it needs to make use of a brand new AI expertise.
Hearken to the podcast.

Learn the associated SEI weblog publish, Contextualizing Finish-Person Wants: The way to Measure the Trustworthiness of an AI System, by Carrie Gardner, Katherine-Marie Robinson, Carol J. Smith, and Alexandrea Steiner.