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An explainable method for security requirements classification through transformer models

delete2026-04-24
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PRE
AI
L
Luca Petrillo *
F
Francesco Mercaldo
A
Antonella Santone
DOI:10.1016/j.future.2026.108544delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
Classifying software requirements is a challenging task, as they are typically specified in natural language. In addition, identifying security-related requirements, especially in the early stages, helps integrate these concepts early in the development process and reduces the likelihood of unauthorized access, data breaches, and other security threats. In this paper, we propose a method for classifying security requirements. We fine-tuned several transformer models by exploiting all model weights during the training process and using the Low-Rank Adaptation approach, which provides more efficient and effective ways of adapting pre-trained transformers to specific tasks. In order to optimize their performance, we employed an hyperparameter tuning phase. Furthermore, we compared and analyzed the performance of the two best models on both approaches and provided explainability through three common methods: attention weight visualization, integrated gradients, and SHAP which help us to better understand the decision-making process of our models.
Keywords:
security requirements classification
transformer models
explainable AI
low-rank adaptation
hyperparameter tuning

Journal

F
Future Generation Computer Systems
IF:
0
Papers:
642
Citations:
0

Organization

C
CNR
Scholars:
1.9K
Papers: 818
Citations: 202
U
University of Molise
Scholars:
2.6K
Papers: 2.6K
Citations: 2.8K