Open Access

ARTICLE

Modernization Framework to Enhance the Security of Legacy Information Systems

Musawwer Khan¹, Islam Ali¹, Wasif Nisar¹, Muhammad Qaiser Saleem², Ali S. Ahmed², Haysam E. Elamin³, Waqar Mehmood⁴, Muhammad Shafiq^5,*

1 Department of Computer Science, COMSATS University Islamabad, Wah Campus, Pakistan
2 College of Computer Science and Information Technology, Al Baha University, Al Baha, Saudi Arabia
3 Department Information Technology, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
4 Department of IT and Computer Science, PAF-Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology, Haripur, Pakistan
5 Department of Information and Communication Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, 38541, Korea

* Corresponding Author: Muhammad Shafiq. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Soft Computing Methods for Innovative Software Practices)

Intelligent Automation & Soft Computing 2022, 32(1), 543-555. https://doi.org/10.32604/iasc.2022.016120

Received 23 December 2020; Accepted 14 April 2021; Issue published 26 October 2021

Abstract

Due to various issues such as lack of agility, low performance, security issues, and high maintenance costs, the organization replaces its legacy information system (LIS). However, with the expansion of information technology, the security of the old system has received great attention. The protection of legacy data and information is critical to the organization. However, achieving safety through modernization, redevelopment, or redesign of LIS is a time-consuming and costly solution, especially in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In addition, newly developed systems often lose inherent business rules, data integrity, and user trust. In this paper, we propose a Security Modernization Framework (SMF) to inject security measures into LIS without modernizing the existing solution. Fundamentally speaking, SMF is a collection of methods and technologies that enhance the security structure of LIS to protect applications and old data. SMF consists of two layers of security control: data audit trail and user access authorization. This contribution has two key advantages. First, it can help SMEs protect their data and applications from unauthorized access. Second, it is the lowest cost solution to implement security measures in LIS instead of modernizing or replacing the system. SMF has used the oracle technology for authentication, but the examples are also shown in pseudocode to facilitate easy positioning of other technologies.

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Keywords

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