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Articles 1 - 27 of 27
Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Reputation-Based Internet Protocol Security: A Multilayer Security Framework For Mobil Ad Hoc Networks, Timothy H. Lacey
Reputation-Based Internet Protocol Security: A Multilayer Security Framework For Mobil Ad Hoc Networks, Timothy H. Lacey
Theses and Dissertations
This research effort examines the theory, application, and results for a Reputation-based Internet Protocol Security (RIPSec) framework that provides security for an ad-hoc network operating in a hostile environment. In RIPSec, protection from external threats is provided in the form of encrypted communication links and encryption-wrapped nodes while internal threats are mitigated by behavior grading that assigns reputations to nodes based on their demonstrated participation in the routing process. Network availability is provided by behavior grading and round-robin multipath routing. If a node behaves faithfully, it earns a positive reputation over time. If a node misbehaves (for any number of …
Code White: A Signed Code Protection Mechanism For Smartphones, Joseph M. Hinson Iv
Code White: A Signed Code Protection Mechanism For Smartphones, Joseph M. Hinson Iv
Theses and Dissertations
This research develops Code White, a hardware-implemented trusted execution mechanism for the Symbian mobile operating system. Code White combines a signed whitelist approach with the execution prevention technology offered by the ARM architecture. Testing shows that it prevents all untrusted user applications from executing while allowing all trusted applications to load and run. Performance testing in contrast with an unmodified Symbian system shows that the difference in load time increases linearly as the application file size increases. The predicted load time for an application with a one megabyte code section remains well below one second, ensuring uninterrupted experience for the …
Accelerating Malware Detection Via A Graphics Processing Unit, Nicholas S. Kovach
Accelerating Malware Detection Via A Graphics Processing Unit, Nicholas S. Kovach
Theses and Dissertations
Real-time malware analysis requires processing large amounts of data storage to look for suspicious files. This is a time consuming process that (requires a large amount of processing power) often affecting other applications running on a personal computer. This research investigates the viability of using Graphic Processing Units (GPUs), present in many personal computers, to distribute the workload normally processed by the standard Central Processing Unit (CPU). Three experiments are conducted using an industry standard GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT card. The goal of the first experiment is to find the optimal number of threads per block for calculating …
Statistical Image Recovery From Laser Speckle Patterns With Polarization Diversity, Donald B. Dixon
Statistical Image Recovery From Laser Speckle Patterns With Polarization Diversity, Donald B. Dixon
Theses and Dissertations
This research extends the theory and understanding of the laser speckle imaging technique. This non-traditional imaging technique may be employed to improve space situational awareness and image deep space objects from a ground-based sensor system. The use of this technique is motivated by the ability to overcome aperture size limitations and the distortion effects from Earth’s atmosphere. Laser speckle imaging is a lensless, coherent method for forming two-dimensional images from their autocorrelation functions. Phase retrieval from autocorrelation data is an ill-posed problem where multiple solutions exist. This research introduces polarization diversity as a method for obtaining additional information so the …
A Comparative Analysis Of Ascii And Xml Logging Systems, Eric C. Hanington
A Comparative Analysis Of Ascii And Xml Logging Systems, Eric C. Hanington
Theses and Dissertations
This research compares XML and ASCII based event logging systems in terms of their storage and processing efficiency. XML has been an emerging technology, even for security. Therefore, it is researched as a logging system with the mitigation of its verbosity. Each system consists of source content, the network transmission, database storage, and querying which are all studied as individual parts. The ASCII logging system consists of the text file as source, FTP as transport, and a relational database system for storage and querying. The XML system has the XML files and XML files in binary form using Efficient XML …
Hijacking User Uploads To Online Persistent Data Repositories For Covert Data Exfiltration, Curtis P. Barnard
Hijacking User Uploads To Online Persistent Data Repositories For Covert Data Exfiltration, Curtis P. Barnard
Theses and Dissertations
As malware has evolved over the years, it has gone from harmless programs that copy themselves into other executables to modern day botnets that perform bank fraud and identity theft. Modern malware often has a need to communicate back to the author, or other machines that are also infected. Several techniques for transmitting this data covertly have been developed over the years which vary significantly in their level of sophistication. This research creates a new covert channel technique for stealing information from a network by piggybacking on user-generated network traffic. Specifically, steganography drop boxes and passive covert channels are merged …
Cyber Situational Awareness Using Live Hypervisor-Based Virtual Machine Introspection, Dustyn A. Dodge
Cyber Situational Awareness Using Live Hypervisor-Based Virtual Machine Introspection, Dustyn A. Dodge
Theses and Dissertations
In this research, a compiled memory analysis tool for virtualization (CMAT-V) is developed as a virtual machine introspection (VMI) utility to conduct live analysis during cyber attacks. CMAT-V leverages static memory dump analysis techniques to provide live dynamic system state data. Unlike some VMI applications, CMAT-V bridges the semantic gap using derivation techniques. CMAT-V detects Windows-based operating systems and uses the Microsoft Symbol Server to provide this context to the user. This research demonstrates the usefulness of CMAT-V as a situational awareness tool during cyber attacks, tests the detection of CMAT-V from the guest system level and measures its impact …
Developing A Hybrid Virtualization Platform Design For Cyber Warfare And Simulation, Kyle E. Stewart
Developing A Hybrid Virtualization Platform Design For Cyber Warfare And Simulation, Kyle E. Stewart
Theses and Dissertations
Virtualization is a technique used to model and simulate the cyber domain, as well as train and educate. Different types of virtualization techniques exist that each support a unique set of benefits and requirements. This research proposes a novel design that incorporates host and network virtualization concepts for a cyber warfare training platform. At the host level, hybrid virtualization combines full and operating system virtualization techniques in order to leverage the benefits and minimize the drawbacks of each individual technique. Network virtualization allows virtual machines to connect in flexible topologies, but it also incurs additional processing overhead. Quantitative analysis falls …
An Application Of Automated Theorem Provers To Computer System Security: The Schematic Protection Model, Mitchell D.I. Hirschfeld
An Application Of Automated Theorem Provers To Computer System Security: The Schematic Protection Model, Mitchell D.I. Hirschfeld
Theses and Dissertations
The Schematic Protection Model is specified in SAL and theorems about Take-Grant and New Technology File System schemes are proven. Arbitrary systems can be specified in SPM and analyzed. This is the first known automated analysis of SPM specifications in a theorem prover. The SPM specification was created in such a way that new specifications share the underlying framework and are configurable within the specifications file alone. This allows new specifications to be created with ease as demonstrated by the four unique models included within this document. This also allows future users to more easily specify models without recreating the …
Deterministic, Efficient Variation Of Circuit Components To Improve Resistance To Reverse Engineering, Daniel F. Koranek
Deterministic, Efficient Variation Of Circuit Components To Improve Resistance To Reverse Engineering, Daniel F. Koranek
Theses and Dissertations
This research proposes two alternative methods for generating semantically equivalent circuit variants which leave the circuit's internal structure pseudo-randomly determined. Component fusion deterministically selects subcircuits using a component identification algorithm and replaces them using a deterministic algorithm that generates canonical logic forms. Component encryption seeks to alter the semantics of individual circuit components using an encoding function, but preserves the overall circuit semantics by decoding signal values later in the circuit. Experiments were conducted to examine the performance of component fusion and component encryption against representative trials of subcircuit selection-and-replacement and Boundary Blurring, two previously defined methods for circuit obfuscation. …
Development Of A Methodology For Customizing Insider Threat Auditing On A Linux Operating System, William T. Bai
Development Of A Methodology For Customizing Insider Threat Auditing On A Linux Operating System, William T. Bai
Theses and Dissertations
Insider threats can pose a great risk to organizations and by their very nature are difficult to protect against. Auditing and system logging are capabilities present in most operating systems and can be used for detecting insider activity. However, current auditing methods are typically applied in a haphazard way, if at all, and are not conducive to contributing to an effective insider threat security policy. This research develops a methodology for designing a customized auditing and logging template for a Linux operating system. An intent-based insider threat risk assessment methodology is presented to create use case scenarios tailored to address …
Codifying Information Assurance Controls For Department Of Defense (Dod) Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (Scada) Systems (U), Eddie A. Mendezllovet
Codifying Information Assurance Controls For Department Of Defense (Dod) Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (Scada) Systems (U), Eddie A. Mendezllovet
Theses and Dissertations
Protecting DoD critical infrastructure resources and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems from cyber attacks is becoming an increasingly challenging task. DoD Information Assurance controls provide a sound framework to achieve an appropriate level of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. However, these controls have not been updated since 2003 and currently do not adequately address the security of DoD SCADA systems. This research sampled U.S. Air Force Civil Engineering subject matter experts representing eight Major Commands that manage and operate SCADA systems. They ranked 30 IA controls in three categories, and evaluated eight SCADA specific IA controls for inclusion into …
Developing An Effective And Efficient Real Time Strategy Agent For Use As A Computer Generated Force, Kurt Weissgerber
Developing An Effective And Efficient Real Time Strategy Agent For Use As A Computer Generated Force, Kurt Weissgerber
Theses and Dissertations
Computer Generated Forces (CGF) are used to represent units or individuals in military training and constructive simulation. The use of CGF significantly reduces the time and money required for effective training. For CGF to be effective, they must behave as a human would in the same environment. Real Time Strategy (RTS) games place players in control of a large force whose goal is to defeat the opponent. The military setting of RTS games makes them an excellent platform for the development and testing of CGF. While there has been significant research in RTS agent development, most of the developed agents …
Effects Of Channel Mismatches On Beamforming And Signal Detection, Christopher I. Allen
Effects Of Channel Mismatches On Beamforming And Signal Detection, Christopher I. Allen
Theses and Dissertations
Tuner gain measurements of a multichannel receiver are reported. A linear regression model is used to characterize the gain, as a function of channel number, tuner set-on frequency, and intermediate frequency. Residual errors of this model are characterized by a t distribution. Very strong autocorrelation of tuner gain at various frequencies is noted. Tuner performance from one channel to the next is diverse; several defects at specific frequencies are noted. The Wilcoxon signed rank test is used to test normality of tuner gain among devices; normality is rejected. Antenna directivity and phase pattern measurements are also reported. An antenna element …
Frequency Diverse Array Radar: Signal Characterization And Measurement Accuracy, Steven H. Brady
Frequency Diverse Array Radar: Signal Characterization And Measurement Accuracy, Steven H. Brady
Theses and Dissertations
Radar systems provide an important remote sensing capability, and are crucial to the layered sensing vision; a concept of operation that aims to apply the right number of the right types of sensors, in the right places, at the right times for superior battle space situational awareness. The layered sensing vision poses a range of technical challenges, including radar, that are yet to be addressed. To address the radar-specific design challenges, the research community responded with waveform diversity; a relatively new field of study which aims reduce the cost of remote sensing while improving performance. Early work suggests that the …
Developing A Qualia-Based Multi-Agent Architecture For Use In Malware Detection, Bobby D. Birrer
Developing A Qualia-Based Multi-Agent Architecture For Use In Malware Detection, Bobby D. Birrer
Theses and Dissertations
Detecting network intruders and malicious software is a significant problem for network administrators and security experts. New threats are emerging at an increasing rate, and current signature and statistics-based techniques are not keeping pace. Intelligent systems that can adapt to new threats are needed to mitigate these new strains of malware as they are released. This research detects malware based on its qualia, or essence rather than its low-level implementation details. By looking for the underlying concepts that make a piece of software malicious, this research avoids the pitfalls of static solutions that focus on predefined bit sequence signatures or …
Coalition Formation Under Uncertainty, Daylond J. Hooper
Coalition Formation Under Uncertainty, Daylond J. Hooper
Theses and Dissertations
Many multiagent systems require allocation of agents to tasks in order to ensure successful task execution. Most systems that perform this allocation assume that the quantity of agents needed for a task is known beforehand. Coalition formation approaches relax this assumption, allowing multiple agents to be dynamically assigned. Unfortunately, many current approaches to coalition formation lack provisions for uncertainty. This prevents application of coalition formation techniques to complex domains, such as real-world robotic systems and agent domains where full state knowledge is not available. Those that do handle uncertainty have no ability to handle dynamic addition or removal of agents …
Multi-Objective Constraint Satisfaction For Mobile Robot Area Defense, Kenneth W. Mayo
Multi-Objective Constraint Satisfaction For Mobile Robot Area Defense, Kenneth W. Mayo
Theses and Dissertations
In developing multi-robot cooperative systems, there are often competing objectives that need to be met. For example in automating area defense systems, multiple robots must work together to explore the entire area, and maintain consistent communications to alert the other agents and ensure trust in the system. This research presents an algorithm that tasks robots to meet the two specific goals of exploration and communication maintenance in an uncoordinated environment reducing the need for a user to pre-balance the objectives. This multi-objective problem is defined as a constraint satisfaction problem solved using the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II). Both …
Performance Characteristics Of A Kernel-Space Packet Capture Module, Samuel W. Birch
Performance Characteristics Of A Kernel-Space Packet Capture Module, Samuel W. Birch
Theses and Dissertations
Defending networks, network-connected assets, and the information they both carry and store is an operational challenge and a significant drain on resources. A plethora of historical and ongoing research efforts are focused on increasing the effectiveness of the defenses or reducing the costs of existing defenses. One valuable facet in defense is the ability to perform post mortem analysis of incidents that have occurred, and this tactic requires accurate storage and rapid retrieval of vast quantities of historical network data. This research improves the efficiency of capturing network packets to disk using commodity, general-purpose hardware and operating systems. It examines …
A Distributed Network Logging Topology, Nicholas E. Fritts
A Distributed Network Logging Topology, Nicholas E. Fritts
Theses and Dissertations
Network logging is used to monitor computer systems for potential problems and threats by network administrators. Research has found that the more logging enabled, the more potential threats can be detected in the logs (Levoy, 2006). However, generally it is considered too costly to dedicate the manpower required to analyze the amount of logging data that it is possible to generate. Current research is working on different correlation and parsing techniques to help filter the data, but these methods function by having all of the data dumped in to a central repository. Central repositories are limited in the amount of …
Visually Managing Ipsec, Peter J. Dell'accio
Visually Managing Ipsec, Peter J. Dell'accio
Theses and Dissertations
The United States Air Force relies heavily on computer networks to transmit vast amounts of information throughout its organizations and with agencies throughout the Department of Defense. The data take many forms, utilize different protocols, and originate from various platforms and applications. It is not practical to apply security measures specific to individual applications, platforms, and protocols. Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) is a set of protocols designed to secure data traveling over IP networks, including the Internet. By applying security at the network layer of communications, data packets can be secured regardless of what application generated the data or which …
Handshaking Protocols And Jamming Mechanisms For Blind Rendezvous In A Dynamic Spectrum Access Environment, Aaron A. Gross
Handshaking Protocols And Jamming Mechanisms For Blind Rendezvous In A Dynamic Spectrum Access Environment, Aaron A. Gross
Theses and Dissertations
Blind frequency rendezvous is an important process for bootstrapping communications between radios without the use of pre-existing infrastructure or common control channel in a Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) environment. In this process, radios attempt to arrive in the same frequency channel and recognize each other’s presence in changing, under-utilized spectrum. This paper refines existing blind rendezvous techniques by introducing a handshaking algorithm for setting up communications once two radios have arrived in the same frequency channel. It then investigates the effect of different jamming techniques on blind rendezvous algorithms that utilize this handshake. The handshake performance is measured by determining …
Developing Cyberspace Data Understanding: Using Crisp-Dm For Host-Based Ids Feature Mining, Joseph R. Erskine
Developing Cyberspace Data Understanding: Using Crisp-Dm For Host-Based Ids Feature Mining, Joseph R. Erskine
Theses and Dissertations
Current intrusion detection systems generate a large number of specific alerts, but do not provide actionable information. Many times, these alerts must be analyzed by a network defender, a time consuming and tedious task which can occur hours or days after an attack occurs. Improved understanding of the cyberspace domain can lead to great advancements in Cyberspace situational awareness research and development. This thesis applies the Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM) to develop an understanding about a host system under attack. Data is generated by launching scans and exploits at a machine outfitted with a set of …
Evolutionary Artificial Neural Network Weight Tuning To Optimize Decision Making For An Abstract Game, Corey M. Miller
Evolutionary Artificial Neural Network Weight Tuning To Optimize Decision Making For An Abstract Game, Corey M. Miller
Theses and Dissertations
Abstract strategy games present a deterministic perfect information environment with which to test the strategic capabilities of artificial intelligence systems. With no unknowns or random elements, only the competitors’ performances impact the results. This thesis takes one such game, Lines of Action, and attempts to develop a competitive heuristic. Due to the complexity of Lines of Action, artificial neural networks are utilized to model the relative values of board states. An application, pLoGANN (Parallel Lines of Action with Genetic Algorithm and Neural Networks), is developed to train the weights of this neural network by implementing a genetic algorithm over a …
Utilizing The Digital Fingerprint Method For Secure Key Generation, Jennifer C. Anilao
Utilizing The Digital Fingerprint Method For Secure Key Generation, Jennifer C. Anilao
Theses and Dissertations
This research examines a new way to generate an uncloneable secure key by taking advantage of the delay characteristics of individual transistors. The user profiles the circuit to deduce the glitch count of each output line for each number of selectable buffers added to the circuit. The user can then use this information to generate a specific glitch count on each output line, which is passed to an encryption algorithm as its key. The results detail tests of two configurations for adding a selectable amount of buffers into each glitch circuit in order to induce additional delay. One configuration adds …
Performance Of Scattering Matrix Decomposition And Color Spaces For Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery, Manuel E. Arriagada
Performance Of Scattering Matrix Decomposition And Color Spaces For Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery, Manuel E. Arriagada
Theses and Dissertations
Polarimetrc Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has been shown to be a powerful tool in remote sensing because uses up to four simultaneous measurements giving additional degrees of freedom for processing. Typically, polarization decomposition techniques are applied to the polarization-dependent data to form colorful imagery that is easy for operators systems to interpret. Yet, the presumption is that the SAR system operates with maximum bandwidth which requires extensive processing for near- or real-time application. In this research, color space selection is investigated when processing sparse polarimetric SAR data as in the case of the publicly available \Gotcha Volumetric SAR Data Set, …
Time Dependent Channel Packet Calculation Of Two Nucleon Scattering Matrix Elements, Brian S. Davis
Time Dependent Channel Packet Calculation Of Two Nucleon Scattering Matrix Elements, Brian S. Davis
Theses and Dissertations
A new approach to calculating nucleon-nucleon scattering matrix elements using a proven atomic time-dependent wave packet technique is investigated. Wave packets containing centripetal barrier information are prepared in close proximity to nuclear well. This is accomplished by first using an analytic equation to determine the wave packets in a suitable intermediate asymptotic state where the centripetal barrier is negligible. Then, the split operator technique is used to propagate the wave packets back to their original positions under the full Hamiltonian. Here, one wave packet is held stationary while the other is allowed to evolve and explore the nuclear well. Scattering …