{"id":"https://openalex.org/W7155382423","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tnsm.2026.3684808","title":"Automating Threat-Aligned Testflows Generation Using Ontology-Grounded RAG From CTI Reports","display_name":"Automating Threat-Aligned Testflows Generation Using Ontology-Grounded RAG From CTI Reports","publication_year":2026,"publication_date":"2026-01-01","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W7155382423","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tnsm.2026.3684808"},"language":null,"primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1109/tnsm.2026.3684808","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tnsm.2026.3684808","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S173527311","display_name":"IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management","issn_l":"1932-4537","issn":["1932-4537","2373-7379"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310319808","host_organization_name":"Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310319808"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management","raw_type":"journal-article"},"type":"article","indexed_in":["crossref"],"open_access":{"is_oa":false,"oa_status":"closed","oa_url":null,"any_repository_has_fulltext":false},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5017976911","display_name":"Faissal Ahmadou","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0198-9653"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I60158472","display_name":"Concordia University","ror":"https://ror.org/0420zvk78","country_code":"CA","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I60158472"]}],"countries":["CA"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Faissal Ahmadou","raw_affiliation_strings":["Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science, Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0198-9653","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science, Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I60158472"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5073380087","display_name":"Boubakr Nour","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5609-856X"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I4210094041","display_name":"Ericsson (Canada)","ror":"https://ror.org/00nas2c56","country_code":"CA","type":"company","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I1306339040","https://openalex.org/I4210094041"]}],"countries":["CA"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Boubakr Nour","raw_affiliation_strings":["Ericsson Security Research, Ericsson, Montreal, Canada"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5609-856X","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Ericsson Security Research, Ericsson, Montreal, Canada","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I4210094041"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5077892893","display_name":"Makan Pourzandi","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9775-6231"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I4210094041","display_name":"Ericsson (Canada)","ror":"https://ror.org/00nas2c56","country_code":"CA","type":"company","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I1306339040","https://openalex.org/I4210094041"]}],"countries":["CA"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Makan Pourzandi","raw_affiliation_strings":["Ericsson Security Research, Ericsson, Montreal, Canada"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9775-6231","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Ericsson Security Research, Ericsson, Montreal, Canada","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I4210094041"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5028605138","display_name":"Mourad Debbabi","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3015-3043"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I60158472","display_name":"Concordia University","ror":"https://ror.org/0420zvk78","country_code":"CA","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I60158472"]}],"countries":["CA"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Mourad Debbabi","raw_affiliation_strings":["Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science, Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3015-3043","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science, Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I60158472"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5072393948","display_name":"Chadi Assi","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3161-1846"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I60158472","display_name":"Concordia University","ror":"https://ror.org/0420zvk78","country_code":"CA","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I60158472"]}],"countries":["CA"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Chadi Assi","raw_affiliation_strings":["Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science, Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3161-1846","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science, Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I60158472"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":1,"institutions_distinct_count":2,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":0.0,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":0,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.46233651,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":false},"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":"23","issue":null,"first_page":"4260","last_page":"4277"},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11710","display_name":"Biomedical Text Mining and Ontologies","score":0.1574999988079071,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1312","display_name":"Molecular Biology"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/13","display_name":"Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/1","display_name":"Life Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11710","display_name":"Biomedical Text Mining and Ontologies","score":0.1574999988079071,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1312","display_name":"Molecular Biology"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/13","display_name":"Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/1","display_name":"Life Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10028","display_name":"Topic Modeling","score":0.09799999743700027,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11986","display_name":"Scientific Computing and Data Management","score":0.08910000324249268,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1802","display_name":"Information Systems and Management"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/18","display_name":"Decision Sciences"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/2","display_name":"Social Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/software","display_name":"Software","score":0.25929999351501465},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/server","display_name":"Server","score":0.257999986410141},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/automation","display_name":"Automation","score":0.24869999289512634},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/electronic-mail","display_name":"Electronic mail","score":0.24070000648498535}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.7648000121116638},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C149635348","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q193040","display_name":"Embedded system","level":1,"score":0.3684999942779541},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C111919701","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9135","display_name":"Operating system","level":1,"score":0.3043999969959259},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2777904410","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7397","display_name":"Software","level":2,"score":0.25929999351501465},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C93996380","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q44127","display_name":"Server","level":2,"score":0.257999986410141},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C115901376","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q184199","display_name":"Automation","level":2,"score":0.24869999289512634},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C79403827","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3988","display_name":"Real-time computing","level":1,"score":0.24709999561309814},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C3020028006","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9158","display_name":"Electronic mail","level":2,"score":0.24070000648498535},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C31258907","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1301371","display_name":"Computer network","level":1,"score":0.2402999997138977},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C7166840","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1199682","display_name":"System testing","level":2,"score":0.22290000319480896}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1109/tnsm.2026.3684808","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1109/tnsm.2026.3684808","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S173527311","display_name":"IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management","issn_l":"1932-4537","issn":["1932-4537","2373-7379"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310319808","host_organization_name":"Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310319808"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management","raw_type":"journal-article"}],"best_oa_location":null,"sustainable_development_goals":[{"id":"https://metadata.un.org/sdg/13","display_name":"Climate action","score":0.6795284748077393}],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"grobid_xml":false,"pdf":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":40,"referenced_works":["https://openalex.org/W2020278455","https://openalex.org/W2131785201","https://openalex.org/W2168848149","https://openalex.org/W2296283641","https://openalex.org/W2771963642","https://openalex.org/W2891610659","https://openalex.org/W2896457183","https://openalex.org/W2977721195","https://openalex.org/W3101140965","https://openalex.org/W3199192635","https://openalex.org/W3202897922","https://openalex.org/W3210930890","https://openalex.org/W3211888892","https://openalex.org/W3214329506","https://openalex.org/W4283780790","https://openalex.org/W4293024991","https://openalex.org/W4309640162","https://openalex.org/W4309674289","https://openalex.org/W4375787811","https://openalex.org/W4377970407","https://openalex.org/W4382405221","https://openalex.org/W4383900630","https://openalex.org/W4385819961","https://openalex.org/W4387250932","https://openalex.org/W4387298166","https://openalex.org/W4392947753","https://openalex.org/W4395113782","https://openalex.org/W4400499510","https://openalex.org/W4401004521","https://openalex.org/W4403826532","https://openalex.org/W4405907177","https://openalex.org/W4412035807","https://openalex.org/W4413167964","https://openalex.org/W4415124086","https://openalex.org/W4415797703","https://openalex.org/W4415933972","https://openalex.org/W4416035296","https://openalex.org/W7091373197","https://openalex.org/W7093293284","https://openalex.org/W7138370235"],"related_works":[],"abstract_inverted_index":{"The":[0,218],"increasing":[1],"sophistication":[2],"and":[3,40,58,75,94,125,133,138,165,180,200,233],"complexity":[4],"of":[5,28,32,42,91,140,184,228],"Advanced":[6],"Persistent":[7],"Threats":[8],"(APTs)":[9],"pose":[10],"significant":[11],"challenges":[12],"to":[13,35,87,102],"security":[14,22],"practitioners.":[15],"To":[16,79],"proactively":[17],"protect":[18],"against":[19,190],"these":[20,81],"threats,":[21],"practitioners":[23],"rely":[24],"on":[25,61],"the":[26,38,89,122,136,182,224],"generation":[27,90,171,183],"testflows,":[29],"structured":[30,153],"sequences":[31],"actions":[33],"designed":[34],"verify":[36],"whether":[37],"tactics":[39],"behaviors":[41],"an":[43],"APT":[44],"are":[45],"present":[46],"within":[47],"their":[48],"organization.":[49],"However,":[50],"manually":[51],"creating":[52],"such":[53],"testflows":[54,96],"is":[55],"time-consuming,":[56],"error-prone,":[57],"highly":[59],"dependent":[60],"expert":[62],"knowledge.":[63],"Moreover,":[64],"existing":[65],"automated":[66,169],"approaches":[67],"suffer":[68],"from":[69,97],"several":[70],"limitations,":[71],"including":[72],"validity,":[73,232],"efficiency,":[74],"insufficient":[76],"domain":[77],"adaptation.":[78],"address":[80],"challenges,":[82],"this":[83],"paper":[84],"introduces":[85,107],"CTI-RAGFlow,":[86],"automate":[88],"relevant,":[92],"valid,":[93],"effective":[95],"unstructured":[98],"threat":[99],"reports":[100,207],"tailored":[101],"specific":[103],"organizational":[104],"environments.":[105],"CTI-RAGFlow":[106,189,222],"three":[108,191,209],"key":[109],"contributions:":[110],"(i)":[111],"a":[112,118,126,144,151,157,167],"dual-ontology":[113],"approach,":[114],"that":[115,149,173,221],"integrates":[116],"both":[117],"system":[119],"ontology":[120,128],"representing":[121],"operational":[123],"environment":[124],"cybersecurity":[127],"capturing":[129],"adversary":[130],"tactics,":[131],"techniques,":[132],"procedures,":[134],"improving":[135],"precision":[137],"accuracy":[139],"generated":[141],"testflows;":[142],"(ii)":[143],"fact-based":[145],"context":[146],"retrieval":[147],"mechanism":[148],"combines":[150],"hypergraph":[152],"knowledge":[154],"base":[155,199],"with":[156],"Retrieval-Augmented":[158],"Generation":[159],"pipeline":[160],"using":[161,203],"Large":[162],"Language":[163],"Models;":[164],"(iii)":[166],"fully":[168],"testflow":[170],"process":[172],"minimizes":[174],"manual":[175],"effort,":[176],"reduces":[177],"human":[178],"error,":[179],"facilitates":[181],"valid":[185],"testflow.":[186],"We":[187],"evaluate":[188],"widely":[192],"used":[193],"LLM":[194],"models":[195],"(<italic":[196,212],"xmlns:mml=\"http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML\"":[197,213],"xmlns:xlink=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink\">e.g.</i>,":[198,214],"fine-tuned":[201],"models)":[202],"publicly":[204],"available":[205],"CTI":[206],"for":[208],"well-known":[210],"APTs":[211],"APT41,":[215],"APT29,":[216],"APT28).":[217],"results":[219],"show":[220],"outperforms":[223],"baselines":[225],"in":[226,235],"terms":[227],"semantic":[229],"relevance,":[230],"coverage,":[231],"effectiveness":[234],"verifying":[236],"multi-stage":[237],"cyberattack":[238],"scenarios.":[239]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-05-04T06:00:05.808912","created_date":"2026-04-24T00:00:00"}
