Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Information Security Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 3931 - 3960 of 4677

Full-Text Articles in Information Security

Embellishing Text Search Queries To Protect User Privacy, Hwee Hwa Pang, Xuhua Ding, Xiaokui Xiao Sep 2010

Embellishing Text Search Queries To Protect User Privacy, Hwee Hwa Pang, Xuhua Ding, Xiaokui Xiao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Users of text search engines are increasingly wary that their activities may disclose confidential information about their business or personal profiles. It would be desirable for a search engine to perform document retrieval for users while protecting their intent. In this paper, we identify the privacy risks arising from semantically related search terms within a query, and from recurring highspecificity query terms in a search session. To counter the risks, we propose a solution for a similarity text retrieval system to offer anonymity and plausible deniability for the query terms, and hence the user intent, without degrading the system’s precision-recall …


On Challenges In Evaluating Malware Clustering, Peng Li, Limin Liu, Debin Gao, Michael K Reiter Sep 2010

On Challenges In Evaluating Malware Clustering, Peng Li, Limin Liu, Debin Gao, Michael K Reiter

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Malware clustering and classification are important tools that enable analysts to prioritize their malware analysis efforts. The recent emergence of fully automated methods for malware clustering and classification that report high accuracy suggests that this problem may largely be solved. In this paper, we report the results of our attempt to confirm our conjecture that the method of selecting ground-truth data in prior evaluations biases their results toward high accuracy. To examine this conjecture, we apply clustering algorithms from a different domain (plagiarism detection), first to the dataset used in a prior work's evaluation and then to a wholly new …


Malware Detection Based On Structural And Behavioural Features Of Api Calls, Manoun Alazab, Robert Layton, Sitalakshmi Venkataraman, Paul Watters Aug 2010

Malware Detection Based On Structural And Behavioural Features Of Api Calls, Manoun Alazab, Robert Layton, Sitalakshmi Venkataraman, Paul Watters

International Cyber Resilience conference

In this paper, we propose a five-step approach to detect obfuscated malware by investigating the structural and behavioural features of API calls. We have developed a fully automated system to disassemble and extract API call features effectively from executables. Using n-gram statistical analysis of binary content, we are able to classify if an executable file is malicious or benign. Our experimental results with a dataset of 242 malwares and 72 benign files have shown a promising accuracy of 96.5% for the unigram model. We also provide a preliminary analysis by our approach using support vector machine (SVM) and by varying …


Mitigating Cyber-Threats Through Public-Private Partnerships: Low Cost Governance With High-Impact Returns , David M. Cook Aug 2010

Mitigating Cyber-Threats Through Public-Private Partnerships: Low Cost Governance With High-Impact Returns , David M. Cook

International Cyber Resilience conference

The realization that cyber threats can cause the same devastation to a country as physical security risks has taken the long route towards acceptance. Governments and businesses have thrown the glove of responsibility back and forth on numerous occasions, with government agencies citing the need for private enterprise to take up the mantle, and Business returning the gesture by proposing a ‘national’ perspective on cyber security. Ambit claims such as these drain a range of security resources when both sides should work in concert by directing all available energy towards resolving cyber-threats. This paper compares the public-private arrangements through Australasia …


Making Information Security Acceptable To The User , Andrew Jones, Thomas Martin Aug 2010

Making Information Security Acceptable To The User , Andrew Jones, Thomas Martin

International Cyber Resilience conference

The security of information that is processed and stored in Information and Communications Technology systems is an ongoing problem that, as yet, has not been satisfactorily resolved. Software developers, system architects and managers all aspire to use technology to provide improvements in the protection of information that is processed and stored on these systems. However, they are working in an environment where the threats to the information, the technologies in use and the uses to which the technologies are being employed are changing at a pace which is faster than can be effectively addressed. This paper looks at the underlying …


Security Analysis Of Session Initiation Protocol - A Methodology Based On Coloured Petri Nets, Lin Liu Aug 2010

Security Analysis Of Session Initiation Protocol - A Methodology Based On Coloured Petri Nets, Lin Liu

International Cyber Resilience conference

In recent years Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has become a popular multimedia application over the Internet. At the same time critical security issues in VoIP have started to emerge. The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a predominant signalling protocol for VoIP. It is used to establish, maintain and terminate VoIP calls, playing a crucial role in VoIP. This paper is aimed at developing a Coloured Petri Net (CPN)-based approach to analysing security vulnerabilities in SIP, with the ultimate goal of achieving a formal and comprehensive security assessment of SIP specification, and creating a platform for evaluating countermeasures for securing …


Small Business - A Cyber Resilience Vulnerability , Patricia A H Williams, Rachel J. Manheke Aug 2010

Small Business - A Cyber Resilience Vulnerability , Patricia A H Williams, Rachel J. Manheke

International Cyber Resilience conference

Small business in Australia comprise 95% of businesses. As a group this means that they contain increasing volumes of personal and business data. This creates escalating vulnerabilities as information is aggregated by various agencies. These vulnerabilities include identity theft and fraud. The threat environment of small business is extensive with both technical and human vulnerabilities. The problem is that the small business environment is being encouraged to adopt e-commerce by the government yet lacks resources in securing its cyber activity. This paper analysed the threats to this situation and found that questions of responsibility by individual businesses and the government …


What Are You Looking For: Identification Of Remnant Communication Artefacts In Physical Memory, Matthew Simon, Jill Slay Aug 2010

What Are You Looking For: Identification Of Remnant Communication Artefacts In Physical Memory, Matthew Simon, Jill Slay

International Cyber Resilience conference

Law enforcement has sound methods for investigating and obtaining data about targets that are using traditional communication services such as the Public Switched Telephone Network. The Internet as a data transfer medium is a vastly different paradigm to that of traditional telephony networks. Information about targets using Internet communication technologies cannot be obtained using the same methods used for traditional communication. There has been an identified need for methods to obtain information on targets that have been using Internet communication methods. The acquisition and analysis of physical memory has been proposed as a vector for the recovery of such information. …


Tracing Vnc And Rdp Protocol Artefacts On Windows Mobile And Windows Smartphone For Forensic Purpose, Paresh Kerai Aug 2010

Tracing Vnc And Rdp Protocol Artefacts On Windows Mobile And Windows Smartphone For Forensic Purpose, Paresh Kerai

International Cyber Resilience conference

Remote access is the means of acquiring access to a computer or network remotely or from distance. It is typically achieved through the internet which connects people, corporate offices and telecommuters to the internal network of organizations or individuals. In recent years there has been a greater adoption of remote desktop applications that help administrators to configure and repair computers remotely over the network. However, this technology has also benefited cyber criminals. For example they can connect to computers remotely and perform illegal activity over the network. This research will focus on Windows mobile phones and the Paraben forensics software …


Which Organisational Model Meets Best Practice Criterion For Critical Infrastructure Providers: An Examination Of The Australian Perspective Based On Case Studies, Andrew Woodward, Craig Valli Aug 2010

Which Organisational Model Meets Best Practice Criterion For Critical Infrastructure Providers: An Examination Of The Australian Perspective Based On Case Studies, Andrew Woodward, Craig Valli

International Cyber Resilience conference

While it is recognised that there must be segregation between corporate and process control networks in order to achieve a higher level of security, there is evidence that this is not occurring. Computer and network vulnerability assessments were carried out on three Australian critical infrastructure providers to determine their level of security. The security measures implemented by each organisation have been mapped against best practice recommendations for achieving segregation between process control and corporate networks. One of the organisations used a model which provided a dedicated information security team for provision of security for the process control networks. One of …


Is Cyber Resilience In Medical Practice Security Achievable? , Patricia A H Williams Aug 2010

Is Cyber Resilience In Medical Practice Security Achievable? , Patricia A H Williams

International Cyber Resilience conference

Australia is moving to a national e-health system with a high level of interconnectedness. The scenario for recovery of such a system, particularly once it is heavily relied upon, may be complex. Primary care medical practices are a fundamental part of the new e-health environment yet function as separate business entities within Australia’s healthcare system. Individually this means that recovery would be reliant on the self-sufficiency of each medical practice. However, the ability of these practices to individually and collectively recover is questionable. The current status of information security in primary care medical practices is compared to the needs of …


Developing Robust Voip Router Honeypots Using Device Fingerprints , Craig Valli, Mohammed Al-Lawati Aug 2010

Developing Robust Voip Router Honeypots Using Device Fingerprints , Craig Valli, Mohammed Al-Lawati

International Cyber Resilience conference

As the telegram was replaced by telephony, so to Voice over IP (VoIP) systems are replacing conventional switched wire telephone devices, these systems rely on Internet connectivity for the transmission of voice conversations. This paper is an outline of ongoing preliminary research into malfeasant VoIP activity on the Internet. 30 years ago PABX systems were compromised by hackers wanting to make long distance calls at some other entities expense. This activity faded as telephony became cheaper and PABX systems had countermeasures installed to overcome attacks. Now the world has moved onto the provision of telephony via broadband enabled Voice over …


Windows Azure: Using Windows Azure's Service Bus To Solve Data Security Issues, Don Chambers Aug 2010

Windows Azure: Using Windows Azure's Service Bus To Solve Data Security Issues, Don Chambers

Theses and Dissertations

Many of the largest technology companies are heavily investing in Cloud Computing technology, making this a major force in the realm of software development. However, this software paradigm brings with it significant data related security issues. This paper discusses some of these security issues and presents a solution. The solution calls for storing data outside of the cloud, and under the control of the cloud consumer. In addition, the solution provides the ability to manipulate data using only the standard HTTP ports that are typically opened at most locations. This solution is implemented using Microsoft's Windows Azure Cloud Computing operating …


A New Hardware-Assisted Pir With O(N) Shuffle Cost, Xuhua Ding, Yanjiang Yang, Robert H. Deng, Shuhong Wang Aug 2010

A New Hardware-Assisted Pir With O(N) Shuffle Cost, Xuhua Ding, Yanjiang Yang, Robert H. Deng, Shuhong Wang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Since the concept of private information retrieval (PIR) was first formalized by Chor et al., various constructions have been proposed with a common goal of reducing communication complexity. Unfortunately, none of them is suitable for practical settings mainly due to the prohibitively high cost for either communications or computations. The booming of the Internet and its applications, especially, the recent trend in outsourcing databases, fuels the research on practical PIR schemes. In this paper, we propose a hardware-assisted PIR scheme with a novel shuffle algorithm. Our PIR construction entails O(n) offline computation cost, and constant online operations and O(log n) …


An Efficient Signcryption Scheme With Key Privacy And Its Extension To Ring Signcryption, Chung Ki Li, Guomin Yang, Duncan S. Wong, Xiaotie Deng, Sherman S. M. Chow Aug 2010

An Efficient Signcryption Scheme With Key Privacy And Its Extension To Ring Signcryption, Chung Ki Li, Guomin Yang, Duncan S. Wong, Xiaotie Deng, Sherman S. M. Chow

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In Information Processing Letters (2006), Tan pointed out that the anonymous signcryption scheme proposed by Yang, Wong and Deng (YWD) in ISC 2005 provides neither confidentiality nor anonymity. However, no discussion has been made on how a secure scheme can be made and there is no secure scheme available to date. In this paper, we propose a modification of YWD scheme which resolves the security issues of the original scheme without sacrificing its high efficiency and simple design. Indeed, we show that our scheme achieves confidentiality, existential unforgeability and anonymity with more precise reduction bounds. We also give a variation …


New Constructions For Identity-Based Unidirectional Proxy Re-Encryption, Junzuo Lai, Wen Tao Zhu, Robert H. Deng, Shengli Liu, Weidong Kou Jul 2010

New Constructions For Identity-Based Unidirectional Proxy Re-Encryption, Junzuo Lai, Wen Tao Zhu, Robert H. Deng, Shengli Liu, Weidong Kou

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We address the cryptographic topic of proxy re-encryption (PRE), which is a special public-key cryptosystem. A PRE scheme allows a special entity, known as the proxy, to transform a message encrypted with the public key of a delegator (say Alice), into a new ciphertext that is protected under the public key of a delegatee (say Bob), and thus the same message can then be recovered with Bob’s private key. In this paper, in the identity-based setting, we first investigate the relationship between so called mediated encryption and unidirectional PRE. We provide a general framework which converts any secure identity-based unidirectional …


Front Matter Jun 2010

Front Matter

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

No abstract provided.


Masthead Jun 2010

Masthead

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

No abstract provided.


Back Matter Jun 2010

Back Matter

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

No abstract provided.


Deterministic, Efficient Variation Of Circuit Components To Improve Resistance To Reverse Engineering, Daniel F. Koranek Jun 2010

Deterministic, Efficient Variation Of Circuit Components To Improve Resistance To Reverse Engineering, Daniel F. Koranek

Theses and Dissertations

This research proposes two alternative methods for generating semantically equivalent circuit variants which leave the circuit's internal structure pseudo-randomly determined. Component fusion deterministically selects subcircuits using a component identification algorithm and replaces them using a deterministic algorithm that generates canonical logic forms. Component encryption seeks to alter the semantics of individual circuit components using an encoding function, but preserves the overall circuit semantics by decoding signal values later in the circuit. Experiments were conducted to examine the performance of component fusion and component encryption against representative trials of subcircuit selection-and-replacement and Boundary Blurring, two previously defined methods for circuit obfuscation. …


An Application Of Automated Theorem Provers To Computer System Security: The Schematic Protection Model, Mitchell D.I. Hirschfeld Jun 2010

An Application Of Automated Theorem Provers To Computer System Security: The Schematic Protection Model, Mitchell D.I. Hirschfeld

Theses and Dissertations

The Schematic Protection Model is specified in SAL and theorems about Take-Grant and New Technology File System schemes are proven. Arbitrary systems can be specified in SPM and analyzed. This is the first known automated analysis of SPM specifications in a theorem prover. The SPM specification was created in such a way that new specifications share the underlying framework and are configurable within the specifications file alone. This allows new specifications to be created with ease as demonstrated by the four unique models included within this document. This also allows future users to more easily specify models without recreating the …


Developing A Hybrid Virtualization Platform Design For Cyber Warfare And Simulation, Kyle E. Stewart Jun 2010

Developing A Hybrid Virtualization Platform Design For Cyber Warfare And Simulation, Kyle E. Stewart

Theses and Dissertations

Virtualization is a technique used to model and simulate the cyber domain, as well as train and educate. Different types of virtualization techniques exist that each support a unique set of benefits and requirements. This research proposes a novel design that incorporates host and network virtualization concepts for a cyber warfare training platform. At the host level, hybrid virtualization combines full and operating system virtualization techniques in order to leverage the benefits and minimize the drawbacks of each individual technique. Network virtualization allows virtual machines to connect in flexible topologies, but it also incurs additional processing overhead. Quantitative analysis falls …


Information Risk And Underwriter Switching In Seos: Evidence From China, Wei Luo, Pingui Rao, Heng Yue Jun 2010

Information Risk And Underwriter Switching In Seos: Evidence From China, Wei Luo, Pingui Rao, Heng Yue

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In this paper we examine whether information risk affects underwriter switching in a seasoned equity offering (SEO) process. Building on previous research, we hypothesize that SEO firms and underwriters associate with one another by mutual choice, and firms with a low degree of information risk tend to match up with prestigious underwriters. Using a sample of SEO firms in China and employing accruals quality as a proxy of information risk, we find evidence consistent with our hypothesis: the information risk and the initial public offering (IPO) underwriters’ reputation at the time of the SEO jointly determine the probability that the …


Revisiting Unpredictability-Based Rfid Privacy Models, Junzuo Lai, Robert Huijie Deng, Yingjiu Li Jun 2010

Revisiting Unpredictability-Based Rfid Privacy Models, Junzuo Lai, Robert Huijie Deng, Yingjiu Li

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Recently, there have been several attempts in establishing formal RFID privacy models in the literature. These models mainly fall into two categories: one based on the notion of indistinguishability of two RFID tags, denoted as ind-privacy, and the other based on the unpredictability of the output of an RFID protocol, denoted as unp-privacy. Very recently, at CCS’09, Ma et al. proposed a modified unp-privacy model, referred to as unp ′-privacy. In this paper, we first revisit the existing RFID privacy models and point out their limitations. We then propose a new RFID privacy model, denoted as …


A Hybrid Method To Detect Deflation Fraud In Cost-Per-Action Online Advertising, Xuhua Ding Jun 2010

A Hybrid Method To Detect Deflation Fraud In Cost-Per-Action Online Advertising, Xuhua Ding

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Web advertisers prefer the cost-per-action (CPA) advertisement model whereby an advertiser pays a web publisher according to the actual amount of transactions, rather than the volume of advertisement clicks. The main obstacle for a wide deployment of this model is the deflation fraud. Namely, a dishonest advertiser under-reports the transaction count in order to discharge less. In this paper, we present a mechanism to detect such a fraud using a hybrid of cryptography and probability tools. With the assistance from a small number of users, the publisher can detect deflation fraud with a success probability growing exponentially with the fraud …


On Trustworthiness Of Cpu Usage Metering And Accounting, Mei Liu, Xuhua Ding Jun 2010

On Trustworthiness Of Cpu Usage Metering And Accounting, Mei Liu, Xuhua Ding

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In the envisaged utility computing paradigm, a user taps a service provider’s computing resources to accomplish her tasks, without deploying the needed hardware and software in her own IT infrastructure. To make the service profitable, the service provider charges the user based on the resources consumed. A commonly billed resource is CPU usage. A key factor to ensure the success of such a business model is the trustworthiness of the resource metering scheme. In this paper, we provide a systematic study on the trustworthiness of CPU usage metering. Our results show that the metering schemes in commodity operating systems should …


The Defiance College Undergraduate Major In Digital Forensic Science: Setting The Bar Higher, Gregg H. Gunsch May 2010

The Defiance College Undergraduate Major In Digital Forensic Science: Setting The Bar Higher, Gregg H. Gunsch

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This paper provides background information to accompany the panel discussion on Curriculum Design and Implementation in Computer Forensics Education. It is specifically focused on the content and delivery of Defiance College’s undergraduate (B.S.) program majoring in Digital Forensic Science (DFS). The genesis and evolution of the Defiance College DFS program are described, along with its successes, challenges and known opportunities for improvement. The desired outcomes of the panel discussion include articulating the necessary components of an undergraduate program, refining expectations of knowledge and skills required of students upon graduation, and suggesting strategies for achieving those expectations despite inevitable resource limitations …


Computer Forensics For Graduate Accountants: A Motivational Curriculum Design Approach, Grover S. Kearns May 2010

Computer Forensics For Graduate Accountants: A Motivational Curriculum Design Approach, Grover S. Kearns

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Computer forensics involves the investigation of digital sources to acquire evidence that can be used in a court of law. It can also be used to identify and respond to threats to hosts and systems. Accountants use computer forensics to investigate computer crime or misuse, theft of trade secrets, theft of or destruction of intellectual property, and fraud. Education of accountants to use forensic tools is a goal of the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants). Accounting students, however, may not view information technology as vital to their career paths and need motivation to acquire forensic knowledge and skills. …


Digital Records Forensics: A New Science And Academic Program For Forensic Readiness, Luciana Duranti, Barbara Endicott-Popovsky May 2010

Digital Records Forensics: A New Science And Academic Program For Forensic Readiness, Luciana Duranti, Barbara Endicott-Popovsky

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This paper introduces the Digital Records Forensics project, a research endeavour located at the University of British Columbia in Canada and aimed at the development of a new science resulting from the integration of digital forensics with diplomatics, archival science, information science and the law of evidence, and of an interdisciplinary graduate degree program, called Digital Records Forensics Studies, directed to professionals working for law enforcement agencies, legal firms, courts, and all kind of institutions and business that require their services. The program anticipates the need for organizations to become “forensically ready,” defined by John Tan as “maximizing the ability …


A Layered Framework Approach To Mitigate Crimeware, Mathew Nyamagwa May 2010

A Layered Framework Approach To Mitigate Crimeware, Mathew Nyamagwa

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Crimeware attacks are growing at such an alarming rate and are becoming so prevalent that the FBI now rank cybercrime among its top priorities after terrorism and espionage. New studies estimate cyber crimes cost firms an astounding $1 trillion annually. But the good news? Over 80% of them are preventable. Crimeware is not a purely technical threat but more or a socio-technical affair. This clearly brings out the fact that computers do not commit a crime, but we (humans) do! In this paper I propose a layered approach that involves all stakeholders from end-users to service-providers and law enforcement to …