Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Anti-Jamming For Embedded Wireless Networks, Miroslav Pajic, Rahul Mangharam

Rahul Mangharam

Resilience to electromagnetic jamming and its avoidance are difficult problems. It is often both hard to distinguish malicious jamming from congestion in the broadcast regime and a challenge to conceal the activity patterns of the legitimate communication protocol from the jammer. In the context of energy-constrained wireless sensor networks, nodes are scheduled to maximize the common sleep duration and coordinate communication to extend their battery life. This results in well-defined communication patterns with possibly predictable intervals of activity that are easily detected and jammed by a statistical jammer. We present an anti-jamming protocol for sensor networks which eliminates spatio-temporal patterns …

Book Review: Handbook On Securing Cyber-Physical Critical Infrastructure: Foundations And Challenges (Written By Sajal K. Das, Krishna Kant, Nan Zhang), Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

This 800+ page handbook is divided into eight parts and contains thirty chapters, ideal for either an advanced undergraduate or graduate course in security. At the heart of this handbook is how we might go about managing both physical and cyber infrastructures, as they continue to become embedded and enmeshed, through advanced control systems, and new computing and communications paradigms.

Book Review Of Hacking: The Next Generation (Written By Nitesh Dhanjani, Billy Rios & Brett Hardin), Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

Hacking: The Next Generation demonstrates just how hackers continue to exploit “back doors”. New ways of working and new ways of communicating have meant that the number of attack vectors continue to rise rapidly. This provides hackers with a greater number of opportunities to penetrate systems using blended approaches while organizations struggle to come up to speed with the latest technology developments and commensurate security capabilities. Dealing with anticipated threats is a lot harder than dealing with known threats.

Book Review: Securing The Cloud: Cloud Computer Security Techniques And Tactics, Katina Michael

Associate Professor Katina Michael

With so much buzz around Cloud Computing, books like this one written by Winkler are much in demand. Winkler’s experience in the computing business shines through and as readers we are spoiled with a great deal of useful strategic information- a jam packed almost 300 page volume on securing the cloud.

Book Review: Security Risk Management: Building An Information Security Risk Management Program From The Ground Up, Katina Michael

Associate Professor Katina Michael

In an age of outsourcing tasks that are not considered to be a core competency of the business, organisations have often relied on external consultants for matters pertaining to security. In actual fact, most companies could have utilized existing skill-sets in-house to produce a security risk management program, if only they knew what steps to take, and how to go about it all. Evan Wheeler in his book on information security risk management does just that- he equips professionals tasked with security, with the thinking required to create a program that is more preoccupied with the complex strategic-level questions than …

Heaven And Hell: Visions For Pervasive Adaptation, Ben Paechter, Jeremy Pitt, Nikola Serbedzijac, Katina Michael, Jennifer Willies, Ingi Helgason

Professor Katina Michael

With everyday objects becoming increasingly smart and the “info-sphere” being enriched with nanosensors and networked to computationally-enabled devices and services, the way we interact with our environment has changed significantly, and will continue to change rapidly in the next few years. Being user-centric, novel systems will tune their behaviour to individuals, taking into account users’ personal characteristics and preferences. But having a pervasive adaptive environment that understands and supports us “behaving naturally” with all its tempting charm and usability, may also bring latent risks, as we seamlessly give up our privacy (and also personal control) to a pervasive world of …

The Social Implications Of Covert Policing, Simon Bronitt, Clive Harfield, K. Michael

Professor Katina Michael

Police agencies have been accused of suffering from an acute form of technophilia. Rather than representing some dreadful disorder, this assessment reflects the strong imperative, both in police agencies and the wider community, that police must have access to the latest technologies of surveillance and crime detection.

The last decade has witnessed the proliferation of low-cost surveillance technologies, some developed specifically for law enforcement purposes. Technology once the preserve of the military or secret intelligence agencies is now within the reach of ordinary general duties police officers. The new generation of police recruits is highly adept at using new technologies. …

The Kerf Toolkit For Intrusion Analysis, Javed A. Aslam, Sergey Bratus, David Kotz, Ron Peterson, Brett Tofel, Daniela Rus

Javed A. Aslam

To aid system administrators with post-attack intrusion analysis, the Kerf toolkit provides an integrated front end and powerful correlation and data-representation tools, all in one package.

Social-Technical Issues Facing The Humancentric Rfid Implantee Sub-Culture Through The Eyes Of Amal Graafstra, Amal Graafstra, K. Michael, M.G. Michael

Associate Professor Katina Michael

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags and transponders have traditionally been used to identify domesticated animals so that they can be reunited with their owners in the event that they stray. In the late 1990s, industry started to investigate the benefits of using RFID to identifying non-living things throughout the supply chain toward new efficiencies in business operations. Not long after, people began to consider the possibilities of getting RFID tag or transponder implants for themselves. Mr Amal Graafstra of the United States is one of the first, and probably most well-known ‘do it yourselfer’ (DIY) implantees, who enjoys building customized projects …

Social-Technical Issues Facing The Humancentric Rfid Implantee Sub-Culture Through The Eyes Of Amal Graafstra, Amal Graafstra, K. Michael, M.G. Michael

M. G. Michael

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags and transponders have traditionally been used to identify domesticated animals so that they can be reunited with their owners in the event that they stray. In the late 1990s, industry started to investigate the benefits of using RFID to identifying non-living things throughout the supply chain toward new efficiencies in business operations. Not long after, people began to consider the possibilities of getting RFID tag or transponder implants for themselves. Mr Amal Graafstra of the United States is one of the first, and probably most well-known ‘do it yourselfer’ (DIY) implantees, who enjoys building customized projects …

Social-Technical Issues Facing The Humancentric Rfid Implantee Sub-Culture Through The Eyes Of Amal Graafstra, Amal Graafstra, K. Michael, M.G. Michael

Professor Katina Michael

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags and transponders have traditionally been used to identify domesticated animals so that they can be reunited with their owners in the event that they stray. In the late 1990s, industry started to investigate the benefits of using RFID to identifying non-living things throughout the supply chain toward new efficiencies in business operations. Not long after, people began to consider the possibilities of getting RFID tag or transponder implants for themselves. Mr Amal Graafstra of the United States is one of the first, and probably most well-known ‘do it yourselfer’ (DIY) implantees, who enjoys building customized projects …

A New Algorithm On Graphical User Authentication (Gua) Based On Multi-Line Grids, Abdullah Gani

Abdullah Gani

Today user authentication stands out as one of the most essential areas in information security which has several ways of being implemented. From time in memorial authentication schemes that apply strong text-based passwords have been typically expected to offer some assurance of security. But committing to memory such strong passwords can prove to be quite a daunting task thus forcing users to resort to writing them down on pieces of papers or even storing them onto a computer file. As a means of thwarting such habits, graphical authentication has been proposed as a replacement for text-based authentication. This has been …

National Security: The Social Implications Of The Politics Of Transparency, M G. Michael, Katina Michael

M. G. Michael

This special issue of Prometheus is dedicated to the theme of the Social Implications of National Security Measures on Citizens and Business. National security measures can be defined as those technical and non-technical measures that have been initiated as a means to curb breaches in national security, irrespective of whether these might occur by nationals or aliens in or from outside the sovereign state. National security includes such government priorities as maintaining border control, safeguarding against pandemic outbreaks, preventing acts of terror, and even discovering and eliminating identification fraud. Governments worldwide are beginning to implement information and communication security techniques …

Location-Based Services And The Privacy-Security Dichotomy, Katina Michael, L. Perusco, M G. Michael

M. G. Michael

Location-based services (LBS) rely on knowledge of a user’s location to provide tailored services or information by means of a wireless device. LBS applications have wide-ranging implications for society, particularly in the context of tracking and monitoring groups of individuals such as children, invalids, and parolees. Despite a great deal of attention paid to technical and commercial aspects of LBS technologies, consideration of the legal, ethical, social and technology momentum issues involved has been wanting. This paper examines some of the more pressing issues that are expected to arise from the widespread use of LBS. The outcome of this paper …

National Security: The Social Implications Of The Politics Of Transparency, M G. Michael, Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

This special issue of Prometheus is dedicated to the theme of the Social Implications of National Security Measures on Citizens and Business. National security measures can be defined as those technical and non-technical measures that have been initiated as a means to curb breaches in national security, irrespective of whether these might occur by nationals or aliens in or from outside the sovereign state. National security includes such government priorities as maintaining border control, safeguarding against pandemic outbreaks, preventing acts of terror, and even discovering and eliminating identification fraud. Governments worldwide are beginning to implement information and communication security techniques …

The Importance Of Scenarios In Evaluating The Socio-Ethical Implications Of Location-Based Services, L. Perusco, Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

Location-based services (LBS) are those applications that utilize the position of an end-user, animal or thing based on a given device (handheld, wearable, interwoven into fabric or implanted), executed for a particular purpose. LBS applications range from those that are mission-critical to those that are used for convenience, from those that are mandatory to those that are voluntary, from those that are targeted at the mass market to those that cater for the needs of a niche market. Location services can be implemented using a variety of access mediums including global positioning systems and radio-frequency identification, rendering approximate or precise …

Location-Based Services And The Privacy-Security Dichotomy, Katina Michael, L. Perusco, M G. Michael

Professor Katina Michael

Location-based services (LBS) rely on knowledge of a user’s location to provide tailored services or information by means of a wireless device. LBS applications have wide-ranging implications for society, particularly in the context of tracking and monitoring groups of individuals such as children, invalids, and parolees. Despite a great deal of attention paid to technical and commercial aspects of LBS technologies, consideration of the legal, ethical, social and technology momentum issues involved has been wanting. This paper examines some of the more pressing issues that are expected to arise from the widespread use of LBS. The outcome of this paper …

Is Rfid Safe And Secure?, E. Latham, K. Michael

Professor Katina Michael

No abstract provided.

Australia's National Security: An Interview With Dr Katina Michael, G. Messaris, K. Michael

Professor Katina Michael

No abstract provided.

Food Based Approaches For A Healthy Nutrition In Africa, Mamoudou Hama Dicko

Pr. Mamoudou H. DICKO, PhD

The latest estimates of the FAO demonstrate the problems of the fight against hunger. These problems are manifested by the ever-increasing number of chronically undernourished people worldwide. Their numbers during the 1999-2001 period were estimated at about 840 million of which 798 million live in developing countries. Sub-Saharan Africa alone represented 198 million of those. In this part of Africa the prevalence of undernourishment ranges from 5-34%, causing growth retardation and insufficient weight gain among one third of the children under five years of age and resulting in a mortality of 5-15% among these children. Malnutrition resulting from undernourishment is …

Covert Shells, John Christian Smith

John Christian Smith

The potential for covert communications exist anywhere that legitimate communication channels are in use. In order to maintain control of the channel once exploited, the insertion of a backdoor Trojan horse server, to be used with a client that provides shell access, is often a necessary prerequisite to establishing and using a covert channel long term.

We discuss covert channel communications methods ranging from embedded channels to disguised protocols. What follows is a review of available covert shell tools. The underground, historical evolution of covert shells is reviewed, focusing on selected, available tools, which range from simple encapsulation methods to …