Information Security Commons^™

Electronic Contract Signing Without Using Trusted Third Party, Zhiguo Wan, Robert H. Deng, David Kuo Chuen Lee

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Electronic contract signing allows two potentially dis-trustful parties to digitally sign an electronic document “simultaneously” across a network. Existing solutions for electronic contract signing either require the involvement of a trusted third party (TTP), or are complex and expensive in communication and computation. In this paper we propose an electronic contract signing protocol between two parties with the following advantages over existing solutions: 1) it is practical and scalable due to its simplicity and high efficiency; 2) it does not require any trusted third party as the mediator; and 3) it guarantees fairness between the two signing parties. We achieve …

Teaching Cybersecurity Using The Cloud, Khaled Salah, Mohammad Hammoud, Sherali Zeadally

Information Science Faculty Publications

Cloud computing platforms can be highly attractive to conduct course assignments and empower students with valuable and indispensable hands-on experience. In particular, the cloud can offer teaching staff and students (whether local or remote) on-demand, elastic, dedicated, isolated, (virtually) unlimited, and easily configurable virtual machines. As such, employing cloud-based laboratories can have clear advantages over using classical ones, which impose major hindrances against fulfilling pedagogical objectives and do not scale well when the number of students and distant university campuses grows up. We show how the cloud paradigm can be leveraged to teach a cybersecurity course. Specifically, we share our …

Handling Human Hacking: Creating A Comprehensive Defensive Strategy Against Modern Social Engineering, Charles Snyder

Senior Honors Theses

Social engineering is one of the most devastating threats to any company or business. Rather than relying upon technical flaws in order to break into computer networks, social engineers utilize a suave personality in order to deceive individuals through clever conversation. These devious conversations frequently provide the attacker with sufficient information to compromise the company’s computer network. Unlike common technical attacks, social engineering attacks cannot be prevented by security tools and software. Instead of attacking a network directly, a social engineer exploits human psychology in order to coerce the victim to inadvertently divulge sensitive information. Further complicating the issue, the …

The Truman Show: Scalable Generation Of Artificial Network Traffic For Cyber Security Research, Adam Wirth

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

Network traffic generation is a key component of the creation of a network simulation environment. In order to create a realistic simulation of a large scale network in action, it is necessary to have a large volume of user traffic. Past methods for providing user traffic, such as hiring users to manually generate traffic, or recording existing traffic of an active network, provide limited control. Managing and directing users is time consuming, and using existing traffic is restricted by recorded conditions. The Truman Show project provides an infinitely adjustable alternative by utilizing agent based modeling of individual users. An agent …

Immunology Inspired Detection Of Data Theft From Autonomous Network Activity, Theodore O. Cochran

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

The threat of data theft posed by self-propagating, remotely controlled bot malware is increasing. Cyber criminals are motivated to steal sensitive data, such as user names, passwords, account numbers, and credit card numbers, because these items can be parlayed into cash. For anonymity and economy of scale, bot networks have become the cyber criminal’s weapon of choice. In 2010 a single botnet included over one million compromised host computers, and one of the largest botnets in 2011 was specifically designed to harvest financial data from its victims. Unfortunately, current intrusion detection methods are unable to effectively detect data extraction techniques …

Usable Security Using Goms: A Study To Evaluate And Compare The Usability Of User Accounts On E-Government Websites, Amran Din

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

The term e-Government refers to providing citizens a series of services that can be conveniently conducted over the Internet. However, the potential to redefine and transform e-Government increasingly relies on citizens successfully establishing and managing a user account profile online. E-Government has not adequately addressed user-centric designs for social inclusion of all citizens on e-Government websites. There is a lack of research on the usability of user account management, and a clear lack of innovation in incorporating user-friendly authentication interfaces to accommodate a diverse user population given the wealth of existing research in web authentication techniques within Identity Management. The …

Software Watermarking Using Return-Oriented Programming, Haoyu Ma, Kangjie Lu, Xinjie Ma, Haining Zhang, Chunfu Jia, Debin Gao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We propose a novel dynamic software watermarking design based on Return-Oriented Programming (ROP). Our design formats watermarking code into well-crafted data arrangements that look like normal data but could be triggered to execute. Once triggered, the pre-constructed ROP execution will recover the hidden watermark message. The proposed ROP-based watermarking technique is more stealthy and resilient over existing techniques since the watermarking code is allocated dynamically into data region and therefore out of reach of attacks based on code analysis. Evaluations show that our design not only achieves satisfying stealth and resilience, but also causes significantly lower overhead to the watermarked …

Masthead

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

No abstract provided.

Back Matter

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

No abstract provided.

Constructing Cost-Effective And Targetable Ics Honeypots Suited For Production Networks, Michael M. Winn

Theses and Dissertations

Honeypots are a technique that can mitigate the risk of cyber threats. Effective honeypots are authentic and targetable, and their design and implementation must accommodate risk tolerance and financial constraints. The proprietary, and often expensive, hardware and software used by Industrial Control System (ICS) devices creates the challenging problem of building a flexible, economical, and scalable honeypot. This research extends Honeyd into Honeyd+, making it possible to use the proxy feature to create multiple high interaction honeypots with a single Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). Honeyd+ is tested with a network of 75 decoy PLCs, and the interactions with the decoys …

Evaluating Machine Learning Classifiers For Hybrid Network Intrusion Detection Systems, Michael D. Rich

Theses and Dissertations

Existing classifier evaluation methods do not fully capture the intended use of classifiers in hybrid intrusion detection systems (IDS), systems that employ machine learning alongside a signature-based IDS. This research challenges traditional classifier evaluation methods in favor of a value-focused evaluation method that incorporates evaluator-specific weights for classifier and prediction threshold selection. By allowing the evaluator to weight known and unknown threat detection by alert classification, classifier selection is optimized to evaluator values for this application. The proposed evaluation methods are applied to a Cyber Defense Exercise (CDX) dataset. Network data is processed to produce connection-level features, then labeled using …

The Impact Of Image Synonyms In Graphical-Based Authentication Systems, Jonathan William Sparks

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Traditional text-based passwords used for authentication in information systems have several known issues in the areas of usability and security. Research has shown that when users generate passwords for systems, they tend to create passwords that are subject to compromise more so than those created randomly by the computer. Research has also shown that users have difficulty remembering highly secure, randomly created, text-based passwords.

Graphical-based passwords have been shown to be highly memorable for users when applied to system authentication. However, graphical-based authentication systems require additional cognitive load to recognize and enter a password compared to traditional text-based authentication that …

Privacy Leakage Analysis In Online Social Networks, Yan Li, Yingjiu Li, Qiang Yan, Deng, Robert H.

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Online Social Networks (OSNs) have become one of the major platforms for social interactions, such as building up relationship, sharing personal experiences, and providing other services. The wide adoption of OSNs raises privacy concerns due to personal data shared online. Privacy control mechanisms have been deployed in popular OSNs for users to determine who can view their personal information. However, user's sensitive information could still be leaked even when privacy rules are properly configured. We investigate the effectiveness of privacy control mechanisms against privacy leakage from the perspective of information flow. Our analysis reveals that the existing privacy control mechanisms …

Leading Undergraduate Students To Big Data Generation, Jianjun Yang, Ju Shen

Computer Science Faculty Publications

People are facing a flood of data today. Data are being collected at unprecedented scale in many areas, such as networking, image processing, virtualization, scientific computation, and algorithms. The huge data nowadays are called Big Data. Big data is an all encompassing term for any collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process them using traditional data processing applications. In this article, the authors present a unique way which uses network simulator and tools of image processing to train students abilities to learn, analyze, manipulate, and apply Big Data. Thus they develop students hands-on …

Reconstruction Privacy: Enabling Statistical Learning, Ke Wang, Chao Han, Ada Waichee Fu, Raymond C. Wong, Philip S. Yu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Non-independent reasoning (NIR) allows the information about one record in the data to be learnt from the information of other records in the data. Most posterior/prior based privacy criteria consider NIR as a privacy violation and require to smooth the distribution of published data to avoid sensitive NIR. The drawback of this approach is that it limits the utility of learning statistical relationships. The differential privacy criterion considers NIR as a non-privacy violation, therefore, enables learning statistical relationships, but at the cost of potential disclosures through NIR. A question is whether it is possible to (1) allow learning statistical relationships, …

Understanding Natural Disasters As Risks In Supply Chain Management Through Web Data Analysis, Jimmy Ong, Zhaoxia Wang, Rick Siow Mong Goh, Xiao Feng Yin, Xin Xin, Xiuju Fu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

With the increasing trend of global outsourcing, companies are now facing ever more complexsupply chains. When a company operates over a large geographical area, the likelihood of disruptions ispotentially increased due to such unforeseen events as natural disasters, union strikes or social unrest. Inthis paper, we consider natural disasters as a form of risks in supply chains and propose to aid itsmanagement by analyzing Web data collected in real-time. Using Twitter "tweets" as our primary source ofWeb data, a real-time data crawler is developed to collect and analyze tweets that are identified as relevant tonatural disasters. In addition, a visualization …

A Web-Based Temperature Monitoring System For The College Of Arts And Letters, Rigoberto Solorio

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In general, server rooms have restricted access requiring that staff possess access codes, keys, etc. Normally, only administrators are provided access to protect the physical hardware and the data stored in the servers. Servers also have firewalls to restrict outsiders from accessing them via the Internet. Servers also cost a lot of money. For this reason, server rooms also need to be protected against overheating. This will prolong the lifecycle of the units and can prevent data loss from hardware failure.

The California State University San Bernardino (CSUSB), Specifically the College of Arts and Letters server room has faced power …

Analysis And Improvement On A Biometric-Based Remote User Authentication Scheme Using Smart Cards, Fengtong Wen, Willy Susilo, Guomin Yang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In a recent paper (BioMed Research International, 2013/491289), Khan et al. proposed an improved biometrics-based remote user authentication scheme with user anonymity. The scheme is believed to be secure against password guessing attack, user impersonation attack, server masquerading attack, and provide user anonymity, even if the secret information stored in the smart card is compromised. In this paper, we analyze the security of Khan et al.’s scheme, and demonstrate that their scheme doesn’t provide user anonymity. This also renders that their scheme is insecure against other attacks, such as off-line password guessing attack, user impersonation attacks. Subsequently, we propose a …

Hole Detection And Shape-Free Representation And Double Landmarks Based Geographic Routing In Wireless Sensor Networks, Jianjun Yang, Zongming Fei, Ju Shen

Computer Science Faculty Publications

In wireless sensor networks, an important issue of geographic routing is “local minimum” problem, which is caused by a “hole” that blocks the greedy forwarding process. Existing geographic routing algorithms use perimeter routing strategies to find a long detour path when such a situation occurs. To avoid the long detour path, recent research focuses on detecting the hole in advance, then the nodes located on the boundary of the hole advertise the hole information to the nodes near the hole. Hence the long detour path can be avoided in future routing. We propose a heuristic hole detecting algorithm which identifies …

Role-Based Access Control Administration Of Security Policies And Policy Conflict Resolution In Distributed Systems, Stephen Sakawa Kibwage

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Security models using access control policies have over the years improved from Role-based access control (RBAC) to newer models which have added some features like support for distributed systems and solving problems in older security policy models such as identifying policy conflicts. Access control policies based on hierarchical roles provide more flexibility in controlling system resources for users. The policies allow for granularity when extended to have both allow and deny permissions as well as weighted priority attribute for the rules in the policies. Such flexibility allows administrators to succinctly specify access for their system resources but also prone to …

Leakage-Resilient Password Entry: Challenges, Design, And Evaluation, Qiang Yan, Jin Han, Yingjiu Li, Jianying Zhou, Robert H. Deng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Password leakage is one of the most serious threats for password-based user authentication. Although this problem has been extensively investigated over the last two decades, there is still no widely adopted solution. In this paper, we attempt to systematically understand the challenges behind this problem and investigate the feasibility of solving it. Since password leakage usually happens when a password is input during authentication, we focus on designing leakage-resilient password entry (LRPE) schemes in this study. We develop a broad set of design criteria and use them to construct a practical LRPE scheme named CoverPad, which not only improves leakage …

Biometric Authentication On Iphone And Android: Usability, Perceptions, And Influences On Adoption, Rasekhar Bhagavatula, Blase Ur, Kevin Iacovino, Su Mon Kywe, Lorrie Faith Cranor, Marios Savvides

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

While biometrics have long been promoted as the future of authentication, the recent introduction of Android face unlock and iPhone fingerprint unlock are among the first large-scale deployments of biometrics for consumers. In a 10-participant, within-subjects lab study and a 198-participant online survey, we investigated the usability of these schemes, along with users ’ experiences, attitudes, and adoption decisions. Participants in our lab study found both face unlock and fingerprint unlock easy to use in typical scenarios. The notable exception was that face unlock was completely unusable in a dark room. Most participants preferred fingerprint unlock over face unlock or …

Con-Resistant Trust For Improved Reliability In A Smart Grid Special Protection System, Crystal M. Shipman, Kenneth M. Hopkinson, Juan L. Lopez Jr.

Faculty Publications

This paper applies a con-resistant trust mechanism to improve the performance of a communications-based special protection system to enhance its effectiveness and resiliency. Smart grids incorporate modern information technologies to increase reliability and efficiency through better situational awareness. However, with the benefits of this new technology come the added risks associated with threats and vulnerabilities to the technology and to the critical infrastructure it supports. The research in this paper uses con-resistant trust to quickly identify malicious or malfunctioning (untrustworthy) protection system nodes to mitigate instabilities. The con-resistant trust mechanism allows protection system nodes to make trust assessments based on …

An Overview Of Steganography For The Computer Forensics Examiner (Updated Version, February 2015), Gary C. Kessler

Publications

"Steganography is the art of covered or hidden writing. The purpose of steganography is covert communication-to hide the existence of a message from a third party. This paper is intended as a high-level technical introduction to steganography for those unfamiliar with the field. It is directed at forensic computer examiners who need a practical understanding of steganography without delving into the mathematics, although references are provided to some of the ongoing research for the person who needs or wants additional detail. Although this paper provides a historical context for steganography, the emphasis is on digital applications, focusing on hiding information …

Online Security, Cryptography, And Quantum Computing, Lynn Ziegler

Forum Lectures

Most secure online transactions are handled using RSA encryption for key exchange to prevent interception of private information like credit card numbers, bank accounts, etc. Unfortunately, development of quantum computers could break RSA (and other encryption systems). I will speak about the problem and potential solutions if quantum computers become available.

Dynamic Game-Theoretic Models To Determine The Value Of Intrusion Detection Systems In The Face Of Uncertainty, David Paul Moured

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Firms lose millions of dollars every year to cyber-attacks and the risk to these companies is growing exponentially. The threat to monetary and intellectual property has made Information Technology (IT) security management a critical challenge to firms. Security devices, including Intrusion Detections Systems (IDS), are commonly used to help protect these firms from malicious users by identifying the presence of malicious network traffic. However, the actual value of these devices remains uncertain among the IT security community because of the costs associated with the implementation of different monitoring strategies that determine when to inspect potentially malicious traffic and the costs …

Access Control Programming Library And Exploration System, Zhitao Qiu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The high complexity of advanced security models in the modern trusted systems requires an effective formal education for students. Education access control tools have been promoted. Though they can benefit the learning through analyzing or visualizing access control policies, few of them are designed to teach development of access control policies.

In this report, we propose an access control programming library which can provide students hand-on experience with the effect of an access control policy on a running program. A student can write a policy and then run programs under the policy. The Programming Library provides a system call wrapper …

Security Assessment Of Iot Devices: The Case Of Two Smart Tvs, Maxim Chernyshev, Peter Hannay

Australian Digital Forensics Conference

Being increasingly complex devices, smart TVs are becoming more capable and have the potential to receive, store, process and transmit considerable amounts of personal data. These capabilities also represent several diverse attack surfaces potentially rendering these devices highly vulnerable. The emergence and high adoption rate of smart TVs have been drawing notable interest from security researchers and industry. We utilise an attack surface area-based approach to assess the security of two modern smart TVs from different vendors and describe some of the possible multi-surface attacks that can be carried out against these devices.

Comparison Of Live Response, Linux Memory Extractor (Lime) And Mem Tool For Acquiring Android’S Volatile Memory In The Malware Incident, Andri Heriyanto, Craig Valli, Peter Hannay

Australian Digital Forensics Conference

The increasing use of encryption and obfuscation within the malware development arena has necessitated the use of volatile memory acquisition on smartphone platforms. Current smartphone forensics research lacks a well-formulated process for the acquisition of volatile memory. This research evaluates and contrasts three differing tools for acquisition of volatile memory from the Android platform: Live Response, Linux Memory Extractor (LiME) and Mem Tool. Evaluation is conducted through practical examination during the analysis of an infected device. The results demonstrate a combination of LiME and the Volatility Framework provides the most robust findings. Complexities due to the nature of LiME prevent …