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Full-Text Articles in Information Security

The 2009 Personal Firewall Robustness Evaluation, Ken Pydayya, Peter Hannay, Patryk Szewczyk Dec 2009

The 2009 Personal Firewall Robustness Evaluation, Ken Pydayya, Peter Hannay, Patryk Szewczyk

Australian Information Security Management Conference

The evolution of the internet as a platform for commerce, banking, general information and personal communications has resulted in a situation where many individuals who may not have previously required internet access now require this connectivity as part of their everyday lives. In addition to this the widespread adoption of mobile broadband has lead to an increasing number of individuals having public facing IP addresses with no firewall appliances present. This situation has dramatically increased reliance on personal firewalls as the first and often last defence against intruders (human and malware alike). The evaluation performed demonstrates the capabilities of current …


Exploring The Relationship Between Organizational Culture And Information Security Culture, Joo S. Lim, Shanton Chang, Sean Maynard, Atif Ahmad Dec 2009

Exploring The Relationship Between Organizational Culture And Information Security Culture, Joo S. Lim, Shanton Chang, Sean Maynard, Atif Ahmad

Australian Information Security Management Conference

Managing Information Security is becoming more challenging in today’s business because people are both a cause of information security incidents as well as a key part of the protection from them. As the impact of organizational culture (OC) on employees is significant, many researchers have called for the creation of information security culture (ISC) in organizations to influence the actions and behaviour of employees towards better organizational information security. Although researchers have called for the creation of ISC to be embedded in organizations, nonetheless, literature suggests that little past research examining the relationship between the nature of OC and ISC. …


A Spoofing Attack Against An Epc Class One Rfid System, Christopher Bolan Dec 2009

A Spoofing Attack Against An Epc Class One Rfid System, Christopher Bolan

Australian Information Security Management Conference

In computing the term spoofing historically referred to the creation of TCP/IP packets using another device’s valid IP address to gain an advantage. The Electronic Product Code (EPC) RFID system was investigated to test the efficacy of spoofing a valid tag response to basic requests. A radio frequency transmission device was constructed to determine whether a valid reader could distinguish between the response of an actual tag and a spoofed response. The results show that the device was able to successfully deceive the EPC reader and further, to replace actual tag responses with a spoofed response. The potential for such …


Challenges In Improving Information Security Practice In Australian General Practice, Donald C. Mcdermid, Rachel J. Mahncke, Patricia A. Williams Dec 2009

Challenges In Improving Information Security Practice In Australian General Practice, Donald C. Mcdermid, Rachel J. Mahncke, Patricia A. Williams

Australian Information Security Management Conference

The status of information security in Australian medical general practice is discussed together with a review of the challenges facing small practices that often lack the technical knowledge and skill to secure patient information by themselves. It is proposed that an information security governance framework is required to assist practices in identifying weaknesses and gaps and then to plan and implement how to overcome their shortcomings through policies, training and changes to processes and management structure.


Security Requirements Engineering-The Reluctant Oxymoron, Michael N. Johnstone Dec 2009

Security Requirements Engineering-The Reluctant Oxymoron, Michael N. Johnstone

Australian Information Security Management Conference

Security is a focus in many systems that are developed today, yet this aspect of systems development is often relegated when the shipping date for a software product looms. This leads to problems post-implementation in terms of patches required to fix security defects or vulnerabilities. A simplistic answer is that if the code was correct in the first instance, then vulnerabilities would not exist. The reality of a complex software artefact is however, driven by other concerns. Rather than probing programs for coding errors that lead to vulnerabilities, it is perhaps more beneficial to look at the root causes of …


Measuring Information Security Governance Within General Medical Practice, Rachel J. Mahncke, Donald C. Mcdermid, Patricia A. Williams Dec 2009

Measuring Information Security Governance Within General Medical Practice, Rachel J. Mahncke, Donald C. Mcdermid, Patricia A. Williams

Australian Information Security Management Conference

Information security is becoming increasingly important within the Australian general medical practice environment as legal and accreditation compliance is being enforced. Using a literature review, approaches to measuring information security governance were analysed for their potential suitability and use within General Practice for the effective protection of confidential information. The models, frameworks and guidelines selected were analysed to evaluate if they were Key Performance Indicator (KPI), or process driven; whether the approach taken was strategic, tactical or operational; and if governance or management assessment tools were presented. To measure information security governance, and be both effective and practical, the approach …


Case Study On An Investigation Of Information Security Management Among Law Firms, Sameera Mubarak, Elena Sitnikova Dec 2009

Case Study On An Investigation Of Information Security Management Among Law Firms, Sameera Mubarak, Elena Sitnikova

Australian Information Security Management Conference

The integrity of lawyers trust accounts as come under scrutiny in the last few years. There have been many incidents of trust account fraud reported internationally, including a case in Australia, where an employee of a law firm stole $4,500,000 from the trust funds of forty-two clients. Our study involved interviewing principles of ten law companies to find out solicitors’ attitudes to computer security and the possibility of breaches of their trust accounts. An overall finding highlights that law firms were not current with technology to combat computer crime, and inadequate access control was a major concern in safeguarding account …


Development Of A Critical Factors Model For The Knowledge Economy In Saudi Arabia, Fahad A. Alothman, Peter Busch Dec 2009

Development Of A Critical Factors Model For The Knowledge Economy In Saudi Arabia, Fahad A. Alothman, Peter Busch

Australian Information Security Management Conference

If knowledge-based economic systems are to be adopted, succeed and be disseminated, many significant barriers must be overcome regardless of how advanced a country is in terms of its infrastructure and domestic production. This paper describes an investigation of the critical factors associated with the adoption and dissemination of a knowledge economy initiative. The focus of the research is on knowledge management, national culture and other country-specific factors and how they are influencing Saudi Arabia’s efforts to develop a knowledge economy.


Method For Securing Online Community Service: A Study Of Selected Western Australian Councils, Sunsern Limwiriyakul Dec 2009

Method For Securing Online Community Service: A Study Of Selected Western Australian Councils, Sunsern Limwiriyakul

Australian Information Security Management Conference

Since the Internet was publicly made available, it has become popular and widely used in a range of services such as Email, News, IRC, World Wide Web around the globe. Progressively other services such as telephony, video conferencing, video on demand, interactive TV, Geospatial Information System (GIS), have emerged and become available on the Internet. Nowadays, Internet broadband communication infrastructure, both wired and wireless, make the concept of a Digital Community possible. The Digital Community has been growing and expanding rapidly around the world. This changes the way we live, work and play. Creating a Digital Community can empower local …


Dealing With The Malicious Insider, Andy Jones, Carl Colwill Jan 2008

Dealing With The Malicious Insider, Andy Jones, Carl Colwill

Australian Information Security Management Conference

This paper looks at a number of issues relating to the malicious insider and the nature of motivation, loyalty and the type of attacks that occur. The paper also examines the changing environmental, social, cultural and business issues that have resulted in an increased exposure to the insider threat. The paper then discusses a range of measures that can be taken to reduce both the likelihood of an attack and the impact that such an attack may have. These measures should be driven by focused and effective risk management processes.


Evaluating The Usability Impacts Of Security Interface Adjustments In Word 2007, M Helala, S M. Furnell, M Papadaki Jan 2008

Evaluating The Usability Impacts Of Security Interface Adjustments In Word 2007, M Helala, S M. Furnell, M Papadaki

Australian Information Security Management Conference

Prior research has suggested that integrating security features with user goals and increasing their visibility would improve the usability of the associated functionalities. This paper investigates how these approaches affect the efficiency of use and the level of user satisfaction. The user interface of Word 2007 was modified according to these principles, with usability tests being conducted with both the original and the modified user interfaces. The results suggest that integrating security features with user goals improves the efficiency of use, but the impacts upon user satisfaction cannot be clearly identified based on the collected data. No indications of any …


Organisational Security Requirements:An Agile Approach To Ubiquitous Information Security, A B. Ruighaver Jan 2008

Organisational Security Requirements:An Agile Approach To Ubiquitous Information Security, A B. Ruighaver

Australian Information Security Management Conference

This paper proposes to address the need for more innovation in organisational information security by adding a security requirement engineering focus. Based on the belief that any heavyweight security requirements process in organisational security will be doomed to fail, we developed a security requirement approach with three dimensions. The use of a simple security requirements process in the first dimension has been augmented by an agile security approach. However, introducing this second dimension of agile security does provide support for, but does not necessarily stimulate, innovation. A third dimension is, therefore, needed to ensure there is a proper focus in …


Enhanced Security For Preventing Man-In-The-Middle Attacks In Authentication, Dataentry And Transaction Verification, Jason Wells, Damien Hutchinson, Justin Pierce Jan 2008

Enhanced Security For Preventing Man-In-The-Middle Attacks In Authentication, Dataentry And Transaction Verification, Jason Wells, Damien Hutchinson, Justin Pierce

Australian Information Security Management Conference

There is increasing coverage in the literature highlighting threats to online financial systems. Attacks range from the prevalent reverse social engineering technique known as phishing; where spam emails are sent to customers with links to fake websites, to Trojans that monitor a customer’s account log on process that captures authentication details that are later replayed for financial gain. This ultimately results in loss of monetary funds for affected victims. As technological advances continue to influence the way society makes payment for goods and services, the requirement for more advanced security approaches for transaction verification in the online environment increases. This …


Rfid Communications - Who Is Listening?, Christopher Bolan Jan 2008

Rfid Communications - Who Is Listening?, Christopher Bolan

Australian Information Security Management Conference

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is seeing a surge in awareness across a range of industries as a successor to barcoding. The nature of this technology promises a wide range of benefits but it appears to be at the expense of security. This paper investigates an eavesdropping attack against an EPC RFID system and shows how a simple device may be used to record interactions between both Tag and Readers. The device is used to record and decode signals within range and its output is analysed to verify that the attack was indeed successful. The findings verify previous assertions by other …


Secure Portable Execution Environments: A Review Of Available Technologies, Peter James Jan 2008

Secure Portable Execution Environments: A Review Of Available Technologies, Peter James

Australian Information Security Management Conference

Live operating systems and virtualisation allow a known, defined, safe and secure execution environment to be loaded in to a PC’s memory and executed with either minimal or possibly no reliance on the PC’s internal hard disk drive. The ability to boot a live operating system or load a virtual environment (containing an operating system) from a USB storage device allows a secure portable execution environment to be created. Portable execution environments have typically been used by technologists, for example to recover data from a failing PC internal hard disk drive or to perform forensic analysis. However, with the commercial …


Can Intrusion Detection Implementation Be Adapted To End-User Capabilities?, Patricia A. Williams, Renji J. Mathew Jan 2008

Can Intrusion Detection Implementation Be Adapted To End-User Capabilities?, Patricia A. Williams, Renji J. Mathew

Australian Information Security Management Conference

In an environment where technical solutions for securing networked systems are commonplace, there still exist problems in implementation of such solutions for home and small business users. One component of this protection is the use of intrusion detection systems. Intrusion detection monitors network traffic for suspicious activity, performs access blocking and alerts the system administrator or user of potential attacks. This paper reviews the basic function of intrusion detection systems and maps them to an existing end-user capability framework. Using this framework, implementation guidance and systematic improvement in implementation of this security measure are defined.


Assessing And Mitigating Vip Vulnerabilities In The Corporate Environment, Hoi Z. Wong Jan 2008

Assessing And Mitigating Vip Vulnerabilities In The Corporate Environment, Hoi Z. Wong

Australian Information Security Management Conference

Video over IP (VIP) is becoming a tool of communication in corporate environments to reduce the time spent conducting meetings face-to-face. This has been driven by efficiencies of time saving, management’s monitoring of staff and to communicate with flexibilities - without placing additional disadvantages on employees who must regularly attend personal meetings amongst hectic business schedules. With technology excelling beyond the old telegraphy of analogy video over hard copper wire to dark fibre technology, VIP is a technology that is starting to receive more attention in the corporate world as more organisations have the equipment to support this additional plug-in. …


Deployment Of Keystroke Analysis On A Smartphone, A Buchoux, N L. Clarke Jan 2008

Deployment Of Keystroke Analysis On A Smartphone, A Buchoux, N L. Clarke

Australian Information Security Management Conference

The current security on mobile devices is often limited to the Personal Identification Number (PIN), a secretknowledge based technique that has historically demonstrated to provide ineffective protection from misuse. Unfortunately, with the increasing capabilities of mobile devices, such as online banking and shopping, the need for more effective protection is imperative. This study proposes the use of two-factor authentication as an enhanced technique for authentication on a Smartphone. Through utilising secret-knowledge and keystroke analysis, it is proposed a stronger more robust mechanism will exist. Whilst keystroke analysis using mobile devices have been proven effective in experimental studies, these studies have …


Information Security Governance And Boards Of Directors: Are They Compatible?, Endre Bihari Jan 2008

Information Security Governance And Boards Of Directors: Are They Compatible?, Endre Bihari

Australian Information Security Management Conference

This paper presents a critique of emergent views on the roles of the boards of directors in relation to information security. The analysis highlights several concerns about the separation and validation of proper theory and business assertions of information security at board level. New requirements articulated by industry bodies – represented by a selected group of experts and evident in literature – are compared to the underlying theory of corporate governance to identify possible discrepancies. The discussion shows in particular the importance of staying within the theoretical underpinnings of corporate governance when discussing the topic of governance in general and …


Framework For Anomaly Detection In Okl4-Linux Based Smartphones, Geh W. Chow, Andy Jones Jan 2008

Framework For Anomaly Detection In Okl4-Linux Based Smartphones, Geh W. Chow, Andy Jones

Australian Information Security Management Conference

Smartphones face the same threats as traditional computers. As long as a device has the capabilities to perform logic processing, the threat of running malicious logic exists. The only difference between security threats on traditional computers versus security threats on smartphones is the challenge to understand the inner workings of the operating system on different hardware processor architectures. To improve upon the security of smartphones, anomaly detection capabilities can be implemented at different functional layers of a smartphone in a coherent manner; instead of just looking at individual functional layers. This paper will focus on identifying conceptual points for measuring …


Risk Mitigation Strategies For The Prepaid Card Issuer In Australia, M A. Khairuddin, P Zhang, A Rao Jan 2008

Risk Mitigation Strategies For The Prepaid Card Issuer In Australia, M A. Khairuddin, P Zhang, A Rao

Australian Information Security Management Conference

The prepaid card market in Australia is growing rapidly. Its features not only attract customers from all sorts of backgrounds but also expose it to numerous risks. Using the methodology of the Australian Risk Management Standard AS/NZS4360, this paper looks at the risks inherent in prepaid cards. Concentrating on two major risks, the paper details the regulations governing the industry in the USA as well the technical controls employed by the credit/debit card industry. We suggest risk mitigation strategies from these two view-points, aiming to become an important reference both for industry as it adopts better risk mitigation techniques, and …


Identifying Dos Attacks Using Data Pattern Analysis, Mohammed Salem, Helen Armstrong Jan 2008

Identifying Dos Attacks Using Data Pattern Analysis, Mohammed Salem, Helen Armstrong

Australian Information Security Management Conference

During a denial of service attack, it is difficult for a firewall to differentiate legitimate packets from rogue packets, particularly in large networks carrying substantial levels of traffic. Large networks commonly use network intrusion detection systems to identify such attacks, however new viruses and worms can escape detection until their signatures are known and classified as an attack. Commonly used IDS are rule based and static, and produce a high number of false positive alerts. The aim of this research was to determine if it is possible for a firewall to analyse its own traffic patterns to identify attempted denial …


Securing A Wireless Network With Eap-Tls: Perception And Realities Of Its Implementation, Brett Turner, Andrew Woodward Jan 2008

Securing A Wireless Network With Eap-Tls: Perception And Realities Of Its Implementation, Brett Turner, Andrew Woodward

Australian Information Security Management Conference

In the arena of wireless security, EAP-TLS is considered one of the most secure protocols. However since its inception the uptake has been poor and the investigation into the reasons for this are sparse. There is an industry perception that EAP-TLS is complex as well as difficult to configure and manage. One of the major barriers is in the use of public key infrastructure and the perceived difficulties in its application. The paper discusses why it is seemingly difficult to implement and how this may differ from the reality of its implementation. This premise is investigated using Windows Server 2003 …


Network Security Isn’T All Fun And Games: An Analysis Of Information Transmitted While Playing Team Fortress 2, Brett Turner, Andrew Woodward Jan 2008

Network Security Isn’T All Fun And Games: An Analysis Of Information Transmitted While Playing Team Fortress 2, Brett Turner, Andrew Woodward

Australian Information Security Management Conference

In the world of online gaming, information is exchanged as a matter of course. What information is exchanged behind the scenes is something that is not obvious to the casual user. People who play these games trust that the applications they are using are securely written and in this case, communicate securely. This paper looks at the traffic that is transmitted by the game Team Fortress 2 and incidentally the supporting authentication traffic of the Steam network. It was discovered through packet analysis that there is quite a lot of information which should be kept private being broadcast in the …


Trust Me. I Am A Doctor. Your Records Are Safe…, Patricia A. Williams, Craig Valli Jan 2008

Trust Me. I Am A Doctor. Your Records Are Safe…, Patricia A. Williams, Craig Valli

Australian Information Security Management Conference

Primary care medical practices in Australia have been identified as a profession in need of assistance with information security practices. Whilst guidelines exist, there is little assistance in an accessible and easily implemented form for medical practices. This research presents the preliminary findings of a study which advocates that information security practices can be improved using a capability operational framework which is contextualised to its target environment.


Improving Information Security Management In Nonprofit Organisations With Action, Mark Carey-Smith, Karen Nelson, Lauren May Dec 2007

Improving Information Security Management In Nonprofit Organisations With Action, Mark Carey-Smith, Karen Nelson, Lauren May

Australian Information Security Management Conference

Information security is vital for protecting important assets of organisations, including the information resources and the organisation’s reputation. In Australia, the nonprofit sector makes a significant contribution to society but is under represented in the information security literature. This paper describes research in progress that is investigating and improving information security management in some nonprofit organisations (NPOs), which incorporates a participatory action research methodology. This approach will enhance the skill set likely to be present in Australian nonprofit organisations, producing a more sustainable solution, as well as contributing to the open literature. The Technology Acceptance Model will be utilised as …


Evolution Of A Database Security Course: Using Non-Enterprise Teaching Tools, Justin Brown Dec 2007

Evolution Of A Database Security Course: Using Non-Enterprise Teaching Tools, Justin Brown

Australian Information Security Management Conference

This paper examines the issues in delivering a university unit of teaching in database security, examining problems in database environment selection and the ability to provide hands on training for students via oncampus and online modes. Initial problems with Linux and then Windows based enterprise database environments prompted the adoption of Microsoft Access as a database tool that was easier to deliver in-class and online. Though Access is file based and has fundamental flaws in its security implementation (within the enterprise context) it can be tweaked to emulate RDBMS level security, allowing students to see how a properly designed security …


Information Security Surveys: A Review Of The Methodologies, The Critics And A Pragmatic Approach To Their Purposes And Usage, Alexis Guillot, Sue Kennedy Dec 2007

Information Security Surveys: A Review Of The Methodologies, The Critics And A Pragmatic Approach To Their Purposes And Usage, Alexis Guillot, Sue Kennedy

Australian Information Security Management Conference

Each year the latest information security surveys are released to the computing and business communities. Often their findings and their methodologies are subject to criticism from the information security community, professional bodies and others in the profession. This paper looks at the viewpoints of both the producers and the critics of the surveys. The criticisms cover such issues as the methodologies, the response rates, the experience of the respondents, the design of the questions and the interpretation of the results. This paper looks at these issues and discusses the validity of these criticisms, the impact of the surveys and their …


Network Security – Is Ip Telephony Helping The Cause?, Paul Hansen, Andrew Woodward Dec 2007

Network Security – Is Ip Telephony Helping The Cause?, Paul Hansen, Andrew Woodward

Australian Information Security Management Conference

The major players in the Public Branch Exchange (PBX) market are moving rapidly towards the implementation of IP Telephony. What will be the effect on network security overall? Will the push to IP Telephony damage the good work already devoted to security networks? As more doorways open up on our networks there is an increased chance we have opened another unseen vector for hackers and other malicious organisation or individuals to access the data stored on server and users workstations, corrupting that data or destroying it. Is it better from a security perspective to have IP telephony only between PBX …


Taxonomy Of Iphone Activation And Sim Unlocking Methods, Marwan Al-Zarouni, Haitham Al-Hajri Dec 2007

Taxonomy Of Iphone Activation And Sim Unlocking Methods, Marwan Al-Zarouni, Haitham Al-Hajri

Australian Information Security Management Conference

This paper will discuss the different methods of SIM unlocking and activation for the Apple iPhone. Early iPhone activation and SIM card fabrication methods as well as the latest software only methods will be discussed. The paper will examine the benefits and drawbacks of each method. It will provide a step-by-step guide to creating a specially crafted SIM card for an iPhone by using Super SIM and Turbo SIM methods. The paper will also include a section on recovering (unbricking) the iPhone and other advanced hacks