Computer Engineering Commons^™

Store And Forward Routing For Sparse Pico-Satellite Sensor Networks With Data-Mules, Trevor Joseph Koritza

Master's Theses

Satellites are playing an increasingly important role in collecting scientific information, providing communication services, and revolutionizing navigation. Until recently satellites were large and very expensive, creating a high barrier to entry that only large corporations and government agencies could overcome. In the past few years the CubeSat project at California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) has worked to refine the design and launching of small, lightweight, and less expensive satellites called pico-satellites, opening space up to a wider audience. Now that Cal Poly has the launch logistics and hardware under control, a new problem has arisen. These …

Deployed Software Analysis, Madeline M. Diep

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Profiling can offer a valuable characterization of software behavior. The richer the characterization is, the more effective the client analyses are in supporting quality assurance activities. For today's complex software, however, obtaining a rich characterization with the input provided by in-house test suites is becoming more difficult and expensive. Extending the profiling activity to deployed environments can mitigate this shortcoming by exposing more program behavior reflecting real software usage. To make profiling of deployed software plausible, however, we need to take into consideration that there are fundamental differences between the development and the deployed environments. Deployed environments allow for less …

Cybercrime And The 2012 London Olympics, Denis Edgar-Nevill

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The London 2012 Olympics is just three years away and the clock is ticking to put in place plans get it right. The potential for cybercrime to cause harm during this event is very great; harm to national reputation, harm to the reputation to the Olympic movement, and harm to individuals competing, watching or officiating. This paper considers the need to address these risks by taking a look at what has happened in the past at sporting events and the rising wave of electronic security threats and fraud facilitated by computers at recent Olympics. The problems for law enforcement are …

Methodology For Investigating Individuals Online Social Networking Persona, Jonathan T. Rajewski

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

When investigators from either the private or public sector review digital data surrounding a case for evidentiary value, they typically conduct a systematic categorization process to identify the relevant digital devices. Armed with the proper methodology to accomplish this task, investigators can quickly recognize the appropriate digital devices for forensic processing and review. This paper purposes a methodology for investigating an individual’s online social networking persona.

Keywords: Social Networking, Web 2.0, Internet Investigations, Online Social Networking Community

Bluetooth Hacking: A Case Study, Dennis Browning, Gary C. Kessler

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This paper describes a student project examining mechanisms with which to attack Bluetooth-enabled devices. The paper briefly describes the protocol architecture of Bluetooth and the Java interface that programmers can use to connect to Bluetooth communication services. Several types of attacks are described, along with a detailed example of two attack tools, Bloover II and BT Info.

Keywords: Bluetooth hacking, mobile phone hacking, wireless hacking

Concerning File Slack, Stephen P. Larson

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

In this paper we discuss the phenomena known as file slack. File slack is created each time a file is created on a hard disk, and can contain private or confidential data. Unfortunately, the methods used by Microsoft Windows operating systems to organize and save files require file slack, and users have no control over what data is saved in file slack. This document will help create awareness about the security issue of file slack and discuss research results concerning file slack.

Keywords : Computer Forensics, File Slack, Ram Slack, Disk Slack

Don’T Touch That! And Other E-Discovery Issues, Linda Volonino

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The ability to preserve and access electronically stored information (ESI) took on greater urgency when amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure went into effect in December 2006. These amendments, referred to as the electronic discovery (e-discovery) amendments, focus on the discovery phase of civil litigation, audits, or investigations. Discovery is the investigative phase of a legal case when opponents learn what evidence is available and how accessible it is. When ESI is the subject of discovery, it is called e-discovery. Recognizing that most business and personal records and communications are electronic, Judge Shira A. Scheindlin stated, "We used …

Why Are We Not Getting Better At Data Disposal?, Andy Jones

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This paper describes two sets of research, the first of which has been carried out over a period of four years into the levels and types of information that can be found on computer hard disks that are offered for sale on the second hand market. The second research project examined a number of second-hand hand held devices including PDAs, mobile (cell) phones and RIM Blackberry devices. The primary purpose of this research was to gain an understanding of the reasons for the failure to effectively remove potentially sensitive information from the disks and handheld devices. Other objectives included determining …

The Computer Fraud And Abuse Act And The Law Of Unintended Consequences, Milton Luoma, Vicki Luoma

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

One of the most unanticipated results of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act arose from the law of unintended consequences. The CFAA was originally enacted in 1984 to protect federal government computers from intrusions and damage caused by hackers, identity thieves, and other cyber criminals. The law was later amended to extend the scope of its application to financial institutions’, business’s and consumers’ computers. To aid in the pursuit of cyber criminals, one of the subsequent revisions to the law included provision “G” that gave the right to private parties to seek compensation for damages in a civil action for …

Correlating Orphaned Windows Registry Data Structures, Damir Kahvedžić, Tahar Kechadi

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Recently, it has been shown that deleted entries of the Microsoft Windows registry (keys) may still reside in the system files once the entries have been deleted from the active database. Investigating the complete keys in context may be extremely important from both a Forensic Investigation point of view and a legal point of view where a lack of context can bring doubt to an argument. In this paper we formalise the registry behaviour and show how a retrieved value may not maintain a relation to the part of the registry it belonged to and hence lose that context. We …

Analysis Of The ‘Db’ Windows Registry Data Structure, Damir Kahvedžić, Tahar Kechadi

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The Windows Registry stores a wide variety of data representing a host of different user properties, settings and program information. The data structures used by the registry are designed to be adaptable to store these differences in a simple format. In this paper we will highlight the existence of a rare data structure that is used to store a large amount of data within the registry hives. We analyse the manner in which this data structure stores its data and the implications that it may have on evidence retrieval and digital investigation. In particular, we reveal that the three of …

Graduate Accounting Students' Perception Of It Forensics: A Multi-Dimensional Analysis, Grover S. Kearns

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Forensics and information technology (IT) have become increasingly important to accountants and auditors. Undergraduate accounting students are introduced to general IT topics but discussion of forensic knowledge is limited. A few schools have introduced an undergraduate major in forensic accounting. Some graduate schools offer accounting students an emphasis in forensic or fraud accounting that includes instruction in forensics and information technology. When students do not view the IT topics as being equally important to their careers as traditional accounting topics, these attitudes may reduce the quality of the course. In an effort to assess student attitudes, a survey of 46 …

Visualization Of Honeypot Data Using Graphviz And Afterglow, Craig Valli

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This research in progress paper explores the use of Graphviz and Afterglow for the analysis of data emanating from a honeypot system. Honeypot systems gather a wide range of data that is often difficult to readily search for patterns and trends using conventional log file analysis techniques. The data from the honeypots has been statically extracted and processed through Afterglow scripts to produce inputs suitable for use by the DOT graph based tools contained within Graphviz. This paper explores some of the benefits and drawbacks of currently using this type of approach.

Keywords: honeypot, network forensics, visualization, Graphviz, Afterglow

Development Of A New Lagrangian Float For Studying Coastal Marine Ecosystems, Alex Schwithal, Chris Roman

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

This paper presents an overview and initial testing results for a shallow water Lagrangian float designed to operate in coastal settings. The presented effort addresses the two main characteristics of the shallow coastal environment that preclude the direct of use of many successfully deep water floats, namely the higher variation of water densities near the coast compared with the open ocean and the highly varied bathymetry. Our idea is to develop a high capacity dynamic auto-ballasting system that is able to compensate for the expected seawater density variation over a broad range of water temperatures and salinities while using measurements …

Adding Escience Assets To The Data Web, Herbert H. Van De Sompel, Carl Lagoze, Michael L. Nelson, Simeon Warner, Robert Sanderson, Pete Johnston

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Aggregations of Web resources are increasingly important in scholarship as it adopts new methods that are data-centric, collaborative, and networked-based. The same notion of aggregations of resources is common to the mashed-up, socially networked information environment of Web 2.0. We present a mechanism to identify and describe aggregations of Web resources that has resulted from the Open Archives Initiative - Object Reuse and Exchange (OAI-ORE) project. The OAI-ORE specifications are based on the principles of the Architecture of the World Wide Web, the Semantic Web, and the Linked Data effort. Therefore, their incorporation into the cyberinfrastructure that supports eScholarship will …

A Video Manager, Nicholas Omann

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduate requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

A Hidden Markov Model Based Approach To Detect Rogue Access Points, Gayathri Shivaraj

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

One of the most challenging security concerns for network administrators is the presence of Rogue access points. The challenge is to detect and disable a Rogue access point before it can cause hazardous damage to the network. This thesis proposes a statistically based approach to detect Rogue access points using a Hidden Markov Model, which is applied to passively measure packet-header data collected at a gateway router or any monitoring point. This approach utilizes variations in packet inter-arrival time to differentiate between authorized access points and Rouge access points. This approach used the inter-arrival time of a packet as a …

Tree-D-Seek: A Framework For Retrieving Three-Dimensional Scenes, Saurav Mazumdar

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In this dissertation, a strategy and framework for retrieving 3D scenes is proposed. The strategy is to retrieve 3D scenes based on a unified approach for indexing content from disparate information sources and information levels. The TREE-D-SEEK framework implements the proposed strategy for retrieving 3D scenes and is capable of indexing content from a variety of corpora at distinct information levels. A semantic annotation model for indexing 3D scenes in the TREE-D-SEEK framework is also proposed. The semantic annotation model is based on an ontology for rapid prototyping of 3D virtual worlds.

With ongoing improvements in computer hardware and 3D …

Ceg 320/520-01: Computer Organization, Michael L. Raymer

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Cs 209-01: Computer Programming For Business Ii, David M. Hutchison

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

cs 209 is the second in a sequence of two programming classes required for MIS majors. This course will continue teaching students to the basic concepts of programming. Examples are from business applications and emphasis is on problem solving with the computer as a tool.

Cs 776: Functional Programming, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

This course will discuss important concepts of functional programming such as recursive definitions, higher-order functions, type inference, polymorphism, abstract data types, modules etc. The programming exercises will illustrate the utility of list-processing, pattern matching, abstraction of data/control, strong typing, and parameterized modules (functors). We also study the mathematical reasoning involved in the design of functional programs and techniques for proving properties about functions so defined.

Cs 784: Programming Languages, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

This course introduces concepts related to the specification and design of high-level programming languages. It discusses different programming paradigms, algebraic specification and implementation of data types, and develops interpreters for specifying operationally the various programming language features/constructs. It also introduces attribute grammar formalism and axiomatic semantics briefly. The programming assignments will be coded in Scheme.

Cs 205: Computer Literacy And Office Automation, Ann Tirpack

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Cs 801: Advanced Database Systems, Soon M. Chung

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

Introduction of current trends and research issues in database systems.

Cs 240: Computer Programming I, Vanessa Starkey

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

Basic concepts of programming and programming languages are introduced.
Emphasis is on structured programming and stepwise refinement. Prerequisite: MTH 130 or MPL 5.

Cs 466/666: Introduction To Formal Languages, Guozhu Dong

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

CS 466/666 is an introduction to formal language and automata theory. In this course we will examine methods for defining syntax of languages and recognizing patterns: the syntax of languages can be defined using grammars and patterns accepted by finite state machines. Along with presenting the fundamentals of these two topics, the course will develop and investigate the relationships between language definition and pattern recognition. The text will be the third edition of Languages and Machines: An Introduction to the Theory of Computer Science, by Thomas Sudkamp.

Cs 142: Computer Programming - Ii, Michael Ondrasek

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

The concepts introduced in CS 141 are developed in greater detail and depth with the Java programming language. Topics include object oriented programming, graphics, development of user interfaces and handling runtime errors with an emphasis on program verification and testing. Students must register for both lecture and one laboratory section. 4 credit hours. Prerequisite: CS 141 (Computer Programming I) and MTH 127 (College Algebra) or equivalent.

Cs 701: Database Systems And Design I, Guozhu Dong

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

An introduction to database design, database system implementation issues and techniques, and advanced data models.

Cs 206-01: Advanced Concepts/Techniques And Software Productivity Tools, John P. Herzog

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

By the end of this course, the students will have a greater depth of understanding in the areas of word processing, spreadsheets, databases, and presentation software and web design using Microsoft Word, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Excel, Access, and PowerPoint covering the following topics.

Microsoft Excel 2007:

Chapter 4: Creating Loan Information

Chapter 5: Working With Lists, Working With Logical Functions

Chapter 6: Working With Multiple Worksheets And Workbooks, Database Functions, And Filtering, And Integrating Excel with Other Window Programs

Microsoft Access 2007:

Chapter 4: Enhancing a Table's Design, and Creating Advanced Queries, Creating Custom Reports

Chapter 5: Creating Custom Forms …

Cs 241-02: Computer Programming - Ii, Michael Ondrasek

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

A continuation of CS240. The emphasis is on solving more complex problems using object oriented programming. Prerequisite: CS240. Students must register for both lecture and one laboratory section. 4 credit hours.