Computer Sciences Commons^™

Designing Cybersecurity Competitions In The Cloud: A Framework And Feasibility Study, Chandler Ryan Newby

Theses and Dissertations

Cybersecurity is an ever-expanding field. In order to stay current, training, development, and constant learning are necessary. One of these training methods has historically been competitions. Cybersecurity competitions provide a method for competitors to experience firsthand cybersecurity concepts and situations. These experiences can help build interest in, and improve skills in, cybersecurity.

While there are diverse types of cybersecurity competitions, most are run with on-premise hardware, often centralized at a specific location, and are usually limited in scope by available hardware. This research focuses on the possibility of running cybersecurity competitions, specifically CCDC style competitions, in a public cloud environment. …

Enabling Auditing And Intrusion Detection Of Proprietary Controller Area Networks, Brent C. Stone

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation is to provide automated methods for security researchers to overcome ‘security through obscurity’ used by manufacturers of proprietary Industrial Control Systems (ICS). `White hat' security analysts waste significant time reverse engineering these systems' opaque network configurations instead of performing meaningful security auditing tasks. Automating the process of documenting proprietary protocol configurations is intended to improve independent security auditing of ICS networks. The major contributions of this dissertation are a novel approach for unsupervised lexical analysis of binary network data flows and analysis of the time series data extracted as a result. We demonstrate the utility …

Security Analysis And Recommendations For Coniks As A Pki Solution For Mobile Apps, George Bradley Spendlove

Theses and Dissertations

Secure mobile apps, including end-to-end encrypted messaging apps such as Whats-App and Signal, are increasingly popular today. These apps require trust in a centralized key directory to automatically exchange the public keys used to secure user communication. This trust may be abused by malicious, subpoenaed, or compromised directories. A public key infrastructure (PKI) solution that requires less trust would increase the security of these commonly used apps.CONIKS is a recent PKI proposal that features transparent key directories which publish auditable digests of the public keys they present to queriers. By monitoring its key every time a new digest is published, …

Zgjerueshmëria E Infrastrukturës Përmes Metodave Të Virtualizimit Të Aplikacioneve Në Nivel Të Sistemit Operativ, Altin Ukshini

Theses and Dissertations

Zhvillimi dhe menaxhimi i aplikacioneve fleksibile dhe të zgjerueshme lehtë është një sfidë operacionale dhe e dizajnimit të infrastrukturës kur kemi të bëjmë me aplikacione dhe platforma të mëdha. Virtualizimi i aplikacioneve në nivel të Sistemit Operativ (konteinerizimi) ka bërë bujë në përdorim tek infrastrukturat dhe serverët në cloud, si dhe në mënyrën se si sot zhvillohen softuerët që të jenë të zgjerueshëm në aspekt të infrastrukturës dhe fleksibilitetit të zhvillimit. Në këtë punim shtjellohet veçmas për teknologjitë e ndryshme të konteinerizimit të aplikacioneve dhe për rëndësinë që ka sot kjo teknologji në zhvillimin e softuerit dhe dizajnimin e arkitekturave …

Krahasimi Në Mes Spring Boot Framework Dhe Jee Framework, Astrit Berisha

Theses and Dissertations

Në këtë punim ne do të bëjmë dallimin dhe ngjajshmerin në mes dy framework se cila prej këtyre dy framework mundëson zhvillimin e shpejtë të aplikacioneve, zvogëlon nevojën për programim si dhe sa janë të sigurta. Meqë përdorimi i këtyre dy framework është për zhvillimin e aplikacioneve, atëherë edhe përdorimi i tyre është po aq i rëndësishëm, të cilat na tregojn se çfarë lloj programesh mund ose duhet të ndërtohet dhe si do të ndërlidhen. Gjetjet janë të bazuara në një rishikim të historisë së të dy framework, dhe veçanërisht në atë se si kane ardhur deri te zhvillimi për …

Aplikimi I Internet Of Things Në Smart City, Genita Tahiri

Theses and Dissertations

Që kur u prezantua koncepti i një Smart City, Internet of Things është konsideruar infrastruktura kryesore në një smart city. Studimi aktual përshkruan rëndësinë e teknologjive IoT në teknologji udhërrëfyesi (TRM) të një smart city. Për më tepër, rreth 200 ekspertë hulumtojnë rëndësinë dhe thelbin e komponentëve të detajuar të teknologjive IoT për një smart city. Aplikacionet e reja të IoT janë duke bërë të mundur iniciativat e Smart City në të gjithë botën. Ai siguron aftësinë për të monitoruar, menaxhuar dhe kontrolluar pajisjet në distancë, dhe për të krijuar njohuri të reja dhe informacion të zbatueshëm nga rrjedhat masive …

Analizimi Dhe Implementimi I Kornizave Të Testimit Të Automatizuar Selenium Dhe Sahi, Kaltrina Baftiu

Theses and Dissertations

Testimi është bërë pjesë integrale e ciklit të zhvillimit të softuerit (SDLC). Përmes mjeteve të automatizuara të testimit me burim të hapur, kostoja e tërë procesit të testimit, si dhe koha që duhet për të kryer procesin e testimit, është zvogëluar ndjeshëm. Qëllimi kryesor i këtij materiali hulumtues është të analizojë mjetet e testimit të internetit Selenium dhe Sahi për të krahasuar karakteristikat e tyre dhe performancën në mënyrë që një përdorues i veçantë të mund të zgjedhë një mjet që është i përshtatshëm në aspektin e përdorshmërisë dhe karakteristikat e kërkuara për një detyrë specifike. Zgjedhja e një kornize …

Siguria E Të Dhënave Në Implementimet E Iot Në Sistemet Ehealth, Iliriana Shala

Theses and Dissertations

Në jetën tonë të sotme ne gjithmonë duhet të merremi me informacionin që luan një rol të rëndësishem në jetën tonë.Njëra nga burimet kryesore të informacionit është padyshim interneti.Gjërat që na rrethojnë po veprojnë me zgjuarsi dhe po e bëjnë jetën tonë njerëzore më të mençur.Këto gjëra veprojnë me zgjuarsi pasi janë të lidhura me internetin dhe kështu quhen “Internet of Things (IoT)”.Pajisjet e IoT mbledhin dhe i shpërndajnë informatat direkt me njëra tjetrën në cloud platforma, duke e bërë të mundur grumbullimin, ruajtjen dhe analizimin e të dhënave më shpejtë dhe më saktë.IoT ofron një premtim të madh në …

Mitigating Memory Randomization Weaknesses Via Moving Target Defense, Sultan M. Aldossary

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we address the problem of weakness of address space layout randomization. The address space randomization technique was proposed to make determining the address of a shared library more difficult since each instance of the program is loaded into a random base address. However, when address space randomization layout (ASLR) is implemented on a 32-bit system, an attacker can use a brute force attack to guess the address of the shared library.The main goal of the research described in this dissertation is to study the use of a dispatching algorithm and multiple back-end servers as a moving target …

Infrastructure-Based Access Policy Enforcement Using Software-Defined Networks, Tyler Carden Culp

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes a method to enhance network security using software defined networks. Standard networks use perimeter-based defenses to block attackers from gaining access to internal systems. A key problem with standard networks is that once a malicious entity has gained access to the network, they are often able to freely move throughout the network and to attack internal systems with impunity. This problem can be mitigated by placing defenses such as firewalls between machines on the network, but this approach requires significant resources and constant maintenance. If the network infrastructure itself is leveraged as a defense by individualizing the …

Menaxhimi I Rrezikut Të Sigurisë Së Informacionit, Valon Perçuku

Theses and Dissertations

Ky punim është përpjekja ime për ta trajtuar çështjen e menaxhimit të rrezikut të sigurisë së informacionit si dhe aspektin se si rreziku perceptohet nga organizatat. Gjatë punimit nuk kam bërë ndonjë dallim të theksuar nga ajo se si organizatat apo kompanitë lokale në Kosovë operojnë krahas atyre ndërkombëtare; kjo sepse, ka pak dallim në mënyrën që operojmë. Si në Kosovë ashtu edhe ndërkombëtarisht organizatat janë të vëna përballë një rreziku që ka formën ndoshta edhe natyrën e njëjtë, përveç probabilitetit që mund të jetë më i madh bazuar në natyrën e organizatës dhe perceptimit global që ka, edhe në …

Towards Enhanced Security For Automotive Operating Systems, Maksym Hryhorenko

Theses and Dissertations

Modern automotive infotainment systems are represented by highly complex components with broad functionality and network capabilities. As a result, they are becoming more exposed to the outer world, thus turning into potentially lucrative targets for remote cyber attacks. In the worst case scenario, an attacker could gain complete control over critical vehicle’s systems, for instance, steering, braking, engine, etc. This thesis proposes security hardening features based on ARM’s TrustZone technology for infotainment systems that ensures confidentiality and integrity of critical applications. In addition, we present a technique that allows to mitigate the impact of certain attacks on the car’s internal …

Usable Security And Privacy For Secure Messaging Applications, Elham Vaziripour

Theses and Dissertations

The threat of government and corporate surveillance around the world, as well as the publicity surrounding major cybersecurity attacks, have increased interest in secure and private end-to-end communications. In response to this demand, numerous secure messaging applications have been developed in recent years. These applications have been welcomed and publically used not just by political activists and journalists but by everyday users as well. Most of these popular secure messaging applications are usable because they hide many of the details of how encryption is provided. The strength of the security properties of these applications relies on the authentication ceremony, wherein …

Improving The Quality Of Neural Machine Translation Using Terminology Injection, Duane K. Dougal

Theses and Dissertations

Most organizations use an increasing number of domain- or organization-specific words and phrases. A translation process, whether human or automated, must also be able to accurately and efficiently use these specific multilingual terminology collections. However, comparatively little has been done to explore the use of vetted terminology as an input to machine translation (MT) for improved results. In fact, no single established process currently exists to integrate terminology into MT as a general practice, and especially no established process for neural machine translation (NMT) exists to ensure that the translation of individual terms is consistent with an approved terminology collection. …

Flow Adaptive Video Object Segmentation, Fanqing Lin

Theses and Dissertations

We tackle the task of semi-supervised video object segmentation, i.e, pixel-level object classification of the images in video sequences using very limited ground truth training data of its corresponding video. Recently introduced online adaptation of convolutional neural networks for video object segmentation (OnAVOS) has achieved good results by pretraining the network, fine-tuning on the first frame and training the network at test time using its approximate prediction as newly obtained ground truth. We propose Flow Adaptive Video Object Segmentation (FAVOS) that refines the generated adaptive ground truth for online updates and utilizes temporal consistency between video frames with the help …

First Steps In Retrofitting A Versatile Software Testing Infrastructure To Android, Carol Anne Oliver

Theses and Dissertations

Are existing software testing technologies satisfying the needs of mobile software testing practitioners? This dissertation provides evidence that the existing technologies fall short of practitioner’s actual needs and analyzes some reasons why this is so. The first contribution presents a framework for analyzing the software testing needs of practitioners, which is then used to assess the existing software testing tools and body of research, revealing significant gaps. The second contribution proposes a vision for a new software testing technology for mobile apps, which is then applied to a real-world problem causing problems for software testing practitioners (namely, the verification of …

Automatic Anuran Species Recognition Via Vocalization, Katrina Smart

Theses and Dissertations

Species recognition of Anuran vocalization is an important problem in ecology, which is costly and time consuming. Recently, biologists have turned to machine learning techniques to automate the process. An automated process can be made even more helpful if available to use on a smart phone, which can be used in the field by scientists and citizen scientists alike. The problem of automatic frog call recognition is challenging because features need to be chosen that can properly separate different species’ very similar sounding vocalizations. This thesis offers the following contributions: 1. Three novel feature extraction methods, which do not require …

Collection And Analysis Of Digital Forensic Data From Devices In The Internet Of Things, Raed Alharbi

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the abundance articles that have been written about the Internet of Things (IoT), little attention has been given to how digital forensics approaches can be utilized to direct advanced investigations in IoT-based frameworks. As of yet, IoT has not completely adjusted to digital forensic strategies given the fact that current digital forensic tools and functions are not ready to tackle the complexity of IoT frameworks for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and testing potential evidence from IoT environments that might be utilized as permissible evidence in a court. Hence, the issue addressed is that; currently, there is no accepted …

Development Of Portable Embedded Face Recognition Prototype, Prasad S. Garapati

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we focus on developing a prototype for collecting multispectral images for face recognition. With such application, the quality of the image is an important factor that affects the accuracy of the recognition. However, the sensory data either provided in RGB channel or in NIR channel. The images acquired in RGB and NIR were never aligned in previous developments during my literature study. Thus, I propose an embedded system prototype capable of acquiring NIR and RGB images providing multispectral information which is computation efficient for real time face recognition applications.

Toward Real-Time Flip Fluid Simulation Through Machine Learning Approximations, Javid Kennon Pack

Theses and Dissertations

Fluids in computer generated imagery can add an impressive amount of realism to a scene, but are particularly time-consuming to simulate. In an attempt to run fluid simulations in real-time, recent efforts have attempted to simulate fluids by using machine learning techniques to approximate the movement of fluids. We explore utilizing machine learning to simulate fluids while also integrating the Fluid-Implicit-Particle (FLIP) simulation method into machine learning fluid simulation approaches.

Design Of Virtual Interactive Simulations For Surgical Training, Doga Demirel

Theses and Dissertations

Design and development of a virtual reality based surgical simulation has many steps and the first and most important step is the comprehensive analysis of the surgery. We performed comprehensive analysis, hierarchical task analysis, which allowed steps and goals of the surgery to be understood while expressing the order of execution and hierarchical relations between the tasks of the surgery. Time and performance metrics derived from the comprehensive analysis provides detailed procedural feedback throughout the surgical simulation, which will help classify surgeon’s skill level. We developed quantitative performance metrics for arthroscopy-based rotator cuff surgery with the goal to establish objective …

Big Data And Sensor Network For Construction Material Testing, Yao Shi

Theses and Dissertations

Engineers and contractors need to have a precise understanding of the development progress of concrete strength in the natural environment, which helps to save project time and cost. However, current practice of concrete construction depends on published data, charts and curves from laboratory tests. The data would not show frequently changing environmental conditions in the real world, which can affect concrete quality significantly. The objective of this research is to design a reliable and accurate method to validate test data of the strength developments of concrete specimens in early stages. The approach includes the following tasks: (1) arrange sensors to …

Zhvillimi I Sistemit Për Menaxhimin E Burimeve Njerzore Duke Përdoruar Ruby On Rails, Albane Dulaj

Theses and Dissertations

Menaxhimi i burimeve njerzore është sfidë për çdo kompani e në veçanti për kompanit e mesme ose të medha në mungesë të sistemeve të cilat ndihmojn në menaxhim. Implementimi i sistemeve të cilat ndodhen në treg është shumë i kushtushëm, e për ta komplikuar situaten mirëmbajtja është edhe më e kushtushme në aspektin financiar, teknik dhe njerzor.

Duke analizuar sisteme të ngjashme kemi kuptuar që shumica e kompanive të mëdha të cilat kanë implementuar këto lloj sistemesh, kan pasur përfitime të shumta në të njejtën kohë edhe shpenzime të shumta e në veçanti ne aspektin material.

Në këtë punim është …

Netlight: Cloud Baked Indirect Illumination, Nathan Andrew Zabriskie

Theses and Dissertations

Indirect lighting drastically increases the realism of rendered scenes but it has traditionally been very expensive to calculate. This has long precluded its use in real-time rendering applications such as video games which have mere milliseconds to respond to user input and produce a final image. As hardware power continues to increase, however, some recently developed algorithms have started to bring real-time indirect lighting closer to reality. Of specific interest to this paper, cloud-based rendering systems add indirect lighting to real-time scenes by splitting the rendering pipeline between a server and one or more connected clients. However, thus far they …

The Role Of Antipodal Connectivity Structure On Cognitive Functions And Mental Disorders, Bayazit Karaman

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding physiological processes in the brain requires formal system models. Furthermore, connectivity is a core component of such models. According to recent studies, 70% of all information within the cortical regions in the brain passed through only 20\% of information processing nodes, commonly referred as "Connector Hub Nodes" (CHNs). Knowledge of these CHNs not only help to understand the information processing behavior of the cortex but also reveals the impact of neurogenerative diseases that affect the functional brain connectivity. CHNs have been previously identified using functional magnetic resonance imaging (f-MRI) method, however, we believe that Electroencephalography (EEG), despite its low …

Design And Development Of A Preliminary Virtual Endoluminal Surgical Simulation (Vess) For Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection (Esd) Surgery, Berk Cetinsaya

Theses and Dissertations

Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection (ESD) is an endoscopic technique for en bloc resection of gastrointestinal lesions. Inadequate training platforms and lack of established training curricula have restricted its wide acceptance in the US. Thus, we aim to develop a Virtual Endoluminal Surgery Simulator (VESS) for objective ESD training and assessment. We performed a detailed colorectal ESD task analysis and identified the critical ESD steps. We constructed a hierarchical task tree that elaborates the order of tasks in these steps. Furthermore, we generated quantitative ESD performance metrics. We measured task times and scores of 16 ESD surgeries performed by four different endoscopic …

Ndikimi I Aplikacioneve Mobile Në Restorante, Leonita Brahaj

Theses and Dissertations

Me zhvillimin e shpejtë të teknologjisë softuerike dhe sidomos asaj mobile, telefoni i mençur (smartphone) është bërë pjesë e pandashme e jetës sonë të përditshme. Vetëm pas një dekade, teknologjia e telefonëve të mençur ka rezultuar të jetë aq e suksesshme sa që bizneset dhe punëtorët e tyre do ta kishin të vështirë të imagjinonin një ditë të vetme pa përdorimin e kësaj teknologjie. Përveç realizimit të thirrjeve telefonike, sot thuajse të gjithë telefonët e mençur lehtësojnë orientimin në rrugë, realizimin e fotografive, dëgjimin e muzikës, mirëmbajtjen e agjendës ditore e shumë funksione tjera. Telefoni i mençur ka depërtuar thellë …

Analizimi I Sigurisë Në Protokollet E Rrugetimit Në Rrjetat Wan Dhe Lan, Blerta Dervishaj

Theses and Dissertations

Kjo temë diplome ka për qëllim që të kuptojmë në mënyrë të shtjelluar dhe të qartë mënyrën se si funksionon procesi i transmetimit të të dhënave, si për shembull, të një fajlli apo dokumenti. Këtë proces e hasim çdo ditë në punën që bëjmë ose edhe për qëllime të tjera. Padyshim që rrjeti kompjuterik paraqet një ndër inovacionet më të mëdha të njerëzimit në fushën e teknologjisë së komunikimit. Mjafton të përmendim Internetin dhe menjëherë do të kuptojmë se sa i madh është përfitimi i njerëzimit nga rrjeti kompjuterik. Ai, domosdoshmërisht vërteton faktin se rrjetet kompjuterike krahas qëllimit të tyre …

A Quantitative Study Of The Deployment Of The Sender Policy Framework, Eunice Zsu Tan

Theses and Dissertations

Email has become a standard form of communication between businesses. With the prevalent use of email as a form of communication between businesses and customers, phishing emails have emerged as a popular social engineering approach. With phishing, attackers trick users into divulging their personal information through email spoofing. Thus, it is imperative to verify the sender of an email. Anti-spoofing mechanisms such as the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) have been developed as the first line of defense against spoofing by validating the source of an email as well as the presenting options of how to handle emails that fail to …

Interfacing Iconicity - Addressing Software Divarication Through Diagrammatic Design Principles, George Akhvlediani

Theses and Dissertations

This research examines conflicts accompanying the proliferation of computer technology and, more specifically, constellations of dependency in the always expanding volume of software, platforms, and the firms/individuals using them. We identify a pervasive phenomenon of “divarication” in the growing variety of progressively specialized systems and system roles. As software systems enter new thresholds of sophistication, they effectively aggregate many distinct components and protocols. Consequently, we are confronted with a diverse ecology of stratified and thereby incompatible software systems. Software inherits the limitations and potential flaws of its constituent parts, but unlike physical machinery, it isn’t readily disassembled in instances of …