Cybersecurity Commons^™

Dcat - Distributed Computing And Analysis Tool, Asher Zwickel, Jacob Burdge

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

This project uses distributed computing to process and analyze large datasets related to cyber breaches and attacks. Its main goal is to find patterns between initial cyber incidents and what happens next. It looks at whether responses tend to escalate, calm down, or stay about the same over time. Understanding this helps explain how digital conflicts develop and whether they follow predictable paths. The project was built as part of university research and runs on custom software across a cluster of 17 Chromebooks. While the system can study many topics, it is currently focused on cyber activity. The software uses …

Leveraging Convolutional Neural Networks For Through-The-Wall Radar Imaging: Challenges, Impacts, And Future Directions, Tumaini Edgar, Abdulla F. Ally, Abdi T. Abdalla

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Through-the-wall radar imaging (TWRI) is an essential technology for military and rescue applications; however, its performance in detecting and visualizing high-quality images of targets behind walls is significantly degraded by multipath reflections and signal attenuation. This paper reviews the current state of TWRI and its challenges, and explores the transformative potential of deep learning, particularly convolutional neural networks (CNNs), in addressing these challenges. Peer-reviewed articles published from 2018 to 2024 were analysed to examine CNN applications in addressing TWRI challenges. The analysis reveals that using CNNs, TWRI systems can be more effective by filtering wall distortions, reducing noise, lowering computational …

Large-Scale File Fragment Classification Via Multi-View Learning, Samuel Hildebrand

LSU Master's Theses

File reassembly is one of the most fundamental tasks in digital forensics, enabling recovery of data from potentially damaged storage media even when file system metadata is unavailable. This thesis reviews more than two decades of work in the realm of file carving, with a particular focus on fragmented file carving, which remains a focus of research, and file fragment classification, a principal component of fragmented file carving. This thesis serves a literature review of both file carving and fragmented file carving, surveys the massive amounts of data needed for the task of fragment classification and the datasets that serve …

Ransomware As Organization: A Comparative Analysis Of Corporate And Criminal Structures In Conti, George Urling

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Cybercriminal groups continue to pose major threats to global cybersecurity. One of the most common types of cybercriminal groups are, “Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS)" groups, who create and sell ransomware. While research is conducted into the development of ransomware, there is limited reporting on the organizational structure and habits of RaaS groups. In 2022, prominent RaaS group Conti had their chat logs leaked, with the logs ranging from 2020 to 2022. This study seeks to provide a deeper understanding of RaaS group structures by utilizing the Conti leaked logs as a case study. The study, entitled “Ransomware as Organization: A Comparative Analysis …

Secure The Database: A Red Team, Blue Team Analysis Of Sql Injection, Andrew N. Miller

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

SQL injection (SQLi) attacks are a type of cyberattack that seeks to bypass website logins and gain entry to sensitive information. These pose a significant danger to organizations holding confidential user information. Personally Identifiable Information (PII) like physical addresses, emails, phone numbers, social security numbers are at risk of theft. Login credentials like usernames, passwords, and other sensitive information like financial details and social security numbers are also exposed through SQLi attacks. SQLi attacks harm the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of people’s identity. Additionally, data breaches that reach public battention harm the reputation and trust of organizations. SQLi attacks rank …

Application Of Graph Neural Networks On Phase Space Graphs For Cybersecurity, Parker H. Cole

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Non-linear phase space analysis may be used to represent time-series data as graph data with transitions between states in the time domain. By studying these transitions, we can predict anomalies within the system. Previous research has demonstrated success in learning from phase graphs for malware and seizure detection. These solutions either require extracting global features or converting the graph into an image for convolutional neural networks (CNNs), which adds a layer of complexity and limits the size and potential expressiveness of a graph. To sidestep current limitations, this study proposed Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) for analyzing phase graphs. GNNs do …

Enhancing Cyberattack Resiliency Through The Radiotherapy Backup And Recovery Dashboard Tool, Justin Pijanowski, Eric Nguyen, Yasin Abdulkadir, Justin Hink, Yevgeniy Vinogradskiy, James Lamb

Department of Radiation Oncology Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: Radiation Oncology departments impacted by recent cyberattacks were unable to access data backups or their Record and Verify (R&V) system and therefore faced challenges to resume patient treatments in a timely manner. We present a novel software tool that backs-up critical radiotherapy treatment information and displays essential information for on-treatment patients in an intuitive and accessible dashboard allowing clinics to continue radiotherapy treatments. The purpose of this report is to describe implementation details, challenges, and share open-source code to facilitate radiation oncology clinics' efforts to develop tools to improve cyberattack resiliency.

METHODS: The Radiotherapy Backup and Recovery Dashboard Tool …

Cybersecurity And Intention To Use Mobile Banking Applications, Ishmael Chikoo, Salah Kabanda

African Conference on Information Systems and Technology

The adoption rate of mobile banking amongst consumers remains low, especially in developing countries where there is a knowledge gap in understanding why consumers do not engage in the frequent use of mobile banking applications. Given that most financial institutions see mobile banking as a strategy for their competitive advantage; it is important that they understand how best to address consumer’s fears brought about by cybersecurity threats. The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceived influence of cybersecurity on the user’s intentions to use mobile banking applications. Data collected from 90 participants was statistically analysed in Smart PLS …

Selected Artificial Intelligence Provisions In U.S. Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

The 2025 Fiscal Year National Defense Authorization Act contains multiple provisions relating to artificial intelligence (AI). These congressionally mandated provisions direct various sections of the Department of Defense (DOD) and individual U.S. armed service branches to execute congressional intent for AI policymaking. Examples of such intent include identifying and planning DOD's AI workforce, demonstrating AI biotechnology applications for national security, improving the human usability of AI systems, and establishing an AI security center. This presentation will note that reports on these initiatives must be prepared for relevant congressional oversight committees, and, in many cases, are in many cases, publicly released …

Improving Image Quality In Electrical Capacitance Tomography Using Otsu Thresholding, Josiah Nombo

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) is an imaging technique used in industrial process monitoring, particularly for monitoring and measuring the composition of multiphase flows. Despite its widespread application, the commonly used Linear Back Projection (LBP) algorithm often produces low-quality images due to its limited ability to handle high permittivity contrasts and nonlinearities. This study investigates the use of Otsu thresholding as a post-processing technique to enhance ECT image quality. By maximizing inter-class variance in the image histogram, Otsu thresholding improves contrast, clarity, and structural definition, enabling more effective segmentation of oil and gas components in multiphase flows. The proposed Otsu-based reconstruction …

Out-Of-Band Anomaly Detection For Real Time Operating Systems, Jeff K. Holifield

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

Real Time Operating Systems (RTOS) are increasing present throughout the industrial, business, defense, and healthcare spaces. These lightweight and efficient operating systems are designed to run on embedded, resource constrained devices, often within cyber-physical systems (CFS). A defining characteristic of RTOSs is that they are deterministic. Tasks are scheduled to run on fixed timelines within guaranteed execution windows. To accomplish tasks on time, real time software must conform to worst case execution times (WCETs) as design parameters. WCET is the maximum time a particular task can take to complete. Exceeding the WCET could cause system failure and lead to damage, …

Analysis Of Forensic Techniques For Additive Manufacturing Devices, Daniel B. Miller, Brad Glisson, Mark Yampolskiy, J Todd Mcdonald

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a set of newer computer-dependent production technologies that is seeing rapid adoption across a wide variety of industries, including defense, aerospace, automotive, and healthcare. With increased adoption comes an increased opportunity for misuse and abuse of such systems, which will lead to an increased need for Digital Forensic investigations into these platforms. This research forensically analyzes a number of AM devices to explore the options available for data acquisition as well as the impacts of hardware and software design choices on the analysis and investigation results. Hardware is investigated using Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) sources to determine …

Design And Implementation Of Secured Hybrid Gateway Node For Securing Iot - Enabled Distribution Automation, Ally Bitebo

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

The integration of smart grid and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies plays a crucial role in enhancing the quality of services provided by traditional electrical grids. This combination has enabled the introduction of new services, such as demand response, automatic meter reading, and IoT-enabled Distribution Automation (IoT-DA), which incorporates sensors, actuators, intelligent electrical devices (IEDs), and information and communication technologies to monitor and control the grid. However, this integration also introduces network security risks, including Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, false data injection, and masquerading attacks, such as system node impersonation that can transmit incorrect readings, trigger false alarms, and …

Safeguarding Virtual Healthcare: A Novel Attacker-Centric Model For Data Security And Privacy, Suvineetha Herath, Haywood Gelman, John Hastings, Yong Wang

Research & Publications

The rapid growth of remote healthcare delivery has introduced significant security and privacy risks to protected health information (PHI). Analysis of a comprehensive healthcare security breach dataset covering 2009-2023 reveals their significant prevalence and impact. This study investigates the root causes of such security incidents and introduces the Attacker-Centric Approach (ACA), a novel threat model tailored to protect PHI. ACA addresses limitations in existing threat models and regulatory frameworks by adopting a holistic attacker-focused perspective, examining threats from the viewpoint of cyber adversaries, their motivations, tactics, and potential attack vectors. Leveraging established risk management frameworks, ACA provides a multi-layered approach …

Exploring Secure Methods For Ensuring Data Integrity: A Theoretical Analysis Of Cryptographic And Detection Techniques, Haryam Garcia Martinez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study investigates cryptographic methods to ensure data integrity within cloud environments, with a particular focus on comparing the security, performance, and efficiency of MD5 and SHA-256 hash algorithms. Data integrity is critical for protecting sensitive information, especially in sectors like healthcare, where cloud storage solutions are increasingly prevalent. Through a theoretical analysis, the study evaluates the advantages and limitations of MD5 and SHA-256, emphasizing SHA-256’s stronger security capabilities in preventing collision attacks compared to MD5, albeit with higher resource consumption.

The literature review draws from recent advancements in cryptography, blockchain, and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, presenting a comprehensive view …

Digital Humanities: Using Computational Methods On Literature To Understand Human-Water Relations, Ariel Yang

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

By using computational techniques to analyze literature, deeper insights can be gained into human-water relationships across different historical and cultural contexts. Natural Language Processing (NLP) and other data science methods can explore applications of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and underlying emotions or beliefs in literature to help understand sustainability. Protecting this sensitive cultural data through ethical applications can further secure future implementations of policies, urban planning, and environmental relationships.

Real Time Pii Scanning, John David

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The increased amount of web applications and internet software solutions utilizing cloud frameworks has contributed to large data sets of system log messages being generated constantly. These messages may contain sensitive data, creating an additional security risk for the systems and contributing to the need for analysis of such large volumes of data in real time. Large commercial data monitoring systems can solve for these analysis requirements, but they can be costly. We present a solution to analyzing web application log data which ingests it, processes it and visualizes sensitive data found within in real time. Our solution utilizes an …

Assessment Of Web Security Vulnerabilities For Common Open Source Virtualization Software, Said Ally

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Open-source hypervisors have emerged as an integral technology for virtualizing server resources in cloud and data center computing. Hypervisor security efficiency is determined by virtual machine isolation, which is a de facto adoption factor in the selection process, as well as its ability to respond to web attacks. This paper assesses the security performance of Proxmox VE and XenServer for type 1 hypervisors, and Kernel Virtual Machine and Oracle Virtual Box for type 2 hypervisors. Security analysis was conducted using common exposures extracted from vulnerability databases and mapped against the OWASP 2013 and 2017 projects. For clarity, experiments were carried …

Investigations Of Cell Tower Antennas Parameters On Reduction Of Radio Frequency Radiation Levels From Radio Base Stations, Florence U. Rashidi

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

The widespread deployment of mobile cellular base stations in populated areas has raised public health concerns due to increased exposure to radio frequency (RF) radiation emissions. Exposure to high levels of RF radiation can have potential thermal and non-thermal biological effects. Optimizing the configuration of cell tower antenna parameters is crucial for mitigating these radiation levels. This study therefore aims at systematically investigating the influence of different cell tower antenna parameters on reducing the RF radiation levels from mobile base stations. Field measurements were conducted at two cell sites shared by multiple mobile operators. Electric field strengths were measured at …

Concept And Development Trend Of Novel E-Infrastructure Platform, Jing Xu, Chuan Tang, Kuangjunyu Yang, Juan Zhang, Ru Huang

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

E-infrastructure platform has become a critical strategic asset for driving national scientific and technological innovation, and is the focus of strategic deployment by technologically advanced countries globally. This study, through the analysis of relevant strategy documents in the United States, European Union, and the United Kingdom, the relevant concepts and development changes of the novel E-infrastructure platform have been clarified. It also summarizes the planning process and development stages of e-infrastructure platform in the United States, Europe, and the United Kingdom, and analyzes that e-infrastructure platform will develop towards a new type of ecological, intelligent, diversified, and full process novel …

Evaluation Of Business-Driven Reference Architecture For Big Data Analytics Implementation By Public Sector Organizations In Resource-Constrained Setting: A Case Study Of Uganda, Matendo Didas

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Big Data Analytics (BDA) is a new area at the nexus of agenda, public sector organizations, and government business. It may satisfy the growing need for trustworthy, cost-effective services in the public sector for better, more informed decision-making processes. BDA has been proposed on the planning schedules of several public sector organizations and the government. Therefore, from the previous work, using Uganda as a case study, specifically the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), Ministry of Health (MoH), and Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES), this study aims to evaluate a designed Business-Driven Reference Architecture for Big Data Analytics Implementation (BRABDAI) …

Data Communication Over Power-Lines: A Review On Technical, And Applications Challenges, Abdi Abdalla

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

This paper presents a review study on the data communication over power-lines, commonly referred to as power-line carrier, power-line communication (PLC), mains communications, or power-line digital subscriber line (PDSL). This study examines the technical and application advantages and challenges associated with adopting PLC as a preferred alternative technology for wideband or broadband data communication. The broader coverage area of the PLC network gives it a distinct advantage over other communication network technologies. Additionally, implementing a communication system using the existing power-line network is more cost-effective and less time-consuming compared to constructing a new network from scratch. However, the primary challenge …

Evaluation Of Cybersecurity In Remote Working Settings For Mobile Network Operators, Victoria Mahabi

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Cybersecurity has increasingly been a primary concern to people as technology advances and allows them to work remotely. This study thus evaluated the cybersecurity posture for organisations that have opted for remote working culture, whereas emerging cyber threats, practices to combat them, and appropriate guidelines for managing cyber threats were discussed. The study used a descriptive design with a quantitative approach from 118 information technology personnel working for Tanzania's three major mobile network operators (MNOs). SPSS analysed the collected data. The study revealed that predominant cyber-threats affecting MNOs in remote working include human errors, phishing attacks, malicious domains, denial of …

Path Of Trust: An Off-Chain Performance Enhancement Algorithm For Public Blockchains, Anthony Kigombola

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Blockchain technology is one among the latest innovations in computing industry. Blockchains have gathered widespread interest in the industry due to their potential as secure data storage. Despite the potential benefits of blockchains, there are several limitations which hinders mass deployment, one of these limitations being low throughput. Low throughput has limited blockchain adoption in large scale applications such as banking or mobile payments. This study addresses this limitation through development of a performance enhancement algorithm called Path of Trust (PoT). PoT uses off-chain stratergy in which transactions meeting certain criteria bypass the main chain and sent direct to the …

On Blockchain Performance Enhancement: A Systematic Map Of Strategies Used, Anthony Kigombola

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Blockchain technology is one among the recent innovations in the computing industry. Blockchains have gathered a widespread interest in the industry mainly due to their security promise. Despite the anticipated benefits of Blockchains, there are several limitations which make the technology less suitable in large scale applications such as banking, one being low throughput. Several initiatives to improve the throughput of Blockchains are being tried out both in the academia and the business worlds but no systematic classification of the initiatives and the strategies used has been done. This study explores Blockchain performance improvement initiatives and classify the initiatives by …

Machine Learning Approach For Classifying Power Outage In Secondary Electric Distribution Network, Stephan Mgaya, Hellen Maziku

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Power outage is the problem that hinders social and economic development especially for developing countries like Tanzania. Frequent power outages damage electric equipment, and negatively affect the industrial production process. Power outages cannot be completely eradicated due to uncontrolled cause like natural calamities but technical challenges can be managed and hence reducing power outages. The existing manual methods used to locate power outage like customer calls is inefficient and time consuming. On the other hand, modern method like the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) still faces a challenge in effectively classifying power line outage due to the nature of imbalanced datasets. …

Big Data Analytics Framework For Effective Higher Education Institutions, George Matto

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

There has been an increased dependency on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in undertaking various activities in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) ecosystems. Because of that, huge volumes of data have increasingly been generated. There have been, for instance, considerable amounts of data generated through electronic platforms involved in students’ admission and registration process, students’ academic records management, teaching and learning data, curriculum related data, and several other administrative data. Analysis of data generated from these platforms stands to give students, lecturers, HEIs Management, policy makers and implementers, and other stakeholders useful insights that would help in improving HEIs’ effectiveness. Unfortunately, …

An Iot Based Worker Safety Helmet Using Cloud Computing Technology, Yuthriya Iddi Khamis, Mahmoud Alawi, Waheed Muhammad Sanya

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Miner safety and security is a major challenge around the world due to the exposure to toxic gases that are frequently released in underground mines. Miners' health is adversely affected primarily by toxic gases, which endanger the workers' lives. Furthermore, human sensory abilities do not detect these dangerous gases. As a result, this paper proposes a safety monitoring system that includes a temperature sensor, humidity sensor, and gas sensors to detect harmful gases and alert miners to those harmful gases using the smart helmet they wear. These gases are transmitted to the control station via the cloud using Internet of …

Real-Time Data Analytics For Monitoring Electricity Consumption Using Iot Technology, Waheed Muhammad Sanya, Gaurav Bajpai, Omar Haji Kombo, Evariste Twahirwa

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Rising electricity bills as a result of climate variability and new home electrical and electronic appliances are becoming a major source of concern for most end users. Consumers are typically unaware of their household electricity consumption patterns and the costs associated with them, making proper planning and budgeting difficult. Monitoring and controlling energy consumption on appliances can reduce energy costs for end-users. The Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to provide remote monitoring and control of devices via automated monitoring and control. In this study, we propose an IoT-enabled system for monitoring and controlling energy consumption in homes to …

Implementation Of Digital Transformation In The Technical Higher Education Institutions In Tanzania, Charles Raphael

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Digital transformation has been prioritized recently in this era of fourth industrial revolution by various organizations for maintaining strong competitive advantage, especially in the fourth industrial revolution. The higher education institutions must likewise adopt and implement digital transformation to enrich their students with the knowledge, experience and the skills they need for a very different future. Technical higher education institutions are inevitable in the given transformation. However, very little is known regarding adoption of digital transformation in the given institutions. This study therefore examined the level of adoption of digital services in the technical higher education institutions in Tanzania. It …