Other Computer Sciences Commons^™

Dynamic Code Checksum Generator, Ashish Sharma

Master's Projects

A checksum (i.e., a cryptographic hash) of a file can be used as an integrity check, if an attacker tries to change the code in an executable file, a checksum can be used to detect the tampering. While it is easy to compute a checksum for any static file, it is possible for an attacker to tamper with an executable file as it is being loaded into memory, or after it has been loaded. Therefore, it would be more useful to checksum an executable file dynamically only after the file has been loaded into memory. However, checksumming dynamic code is …

Jshield: A Java Anti-Reversing Tool, Deepti Kundu

Master's Projects

Java is a platform independent language.    Java programs can be executed on any machine, irrespective of its hardware or the operating system, as long as a Java virtual machine for that platform is available. A Java compiler converts the source code into „bytecode‟ instead of native binary machine code. This bytecode contains a lot of information from and about the source code, which makes it easy to decompile, and hence, vulnerable to „reverse engineering attacks‟. In addition to the obvious security implications, businesses and the wider software engineering community also risk widespread IP theft - proprietary algorithms, for example, that …

Java Smell Detector, Nitin Mathur

Master's Projects

“Code Smell” or “Bad Smell”, at the very least, is an indicator of badly written code and is often indicative of deeper problems in software design. In layman terms, it signals flaws in the core foundation or architecture of the software that can cause any number of more serious problems – from usability and runtime performance to supportability and enhancement. These problems can mostly be prevented by the systematic refactoring of the code. Refactoring is the process (and according to some, an ‘art’) of making incremental changes to existing source code to improve its nonfunctional attributes, without modifying its external …

Online Application Monitoring Tool, Sathya Anandan

Master's Projects

In some classes, students take online tests and some types of network activity (for example trying to find the answers in www.google.com) will be considered as cheating during the exam. It would be useful if instructor could monitor online activities of each student to detect cheating. The goal of this project is to develop such a tool using client/server architecture. Tool should display the student's hostname and the website visited during unauthorized web activity. Professor should able to see the applications opened by all students and he will have an option to view the log files of all the students …

Computational Mirna Target Prediction In Animals, Leyan Tang

Master's Projects

miRNAs are a class of small RNA molecules about 22 nucleotides long that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. The discovery of the second miRNA 10 years ago was as much a surprise in its own way as the very structure of DNA discovered a half century earlier[1]. How could these small molecules regulate so many genes? During the past decade the complex cascade of regulation has been investigated and reported in detail[2]. The regions of the genome called untranslated regions, or UTRs, proved true to their name: they were indeed untranslated, but certainly not unimportant: they act as …

Intrusion Detection And Prevention System: Sql-Injection Attacks, Varian Luong

Master's Projects

Personally identifiable information (PII) is information regarding things such as bank accounts, retirement or stock investment accounts, credit card accounts, medical records, or insurance claims. There is a need to protect the PII in databases that are connected to the ubiquitous, global network that is the Internet. If there is any vulnerability in the protection in a system that holds PII, then it presents an opportunity for an unauthorized person to access this PII. One of the techniques available to would- be information thieves is SQL injection (SQL-I). In this project, a system is developed to analyze the values submitted …

A Microrna Target Prediction Algorithm, Rupinder Singh

Master's Projects

MicroRNA target prediction using the experimental methods is a challenging task. To accelerate the process of miRNA target validation, many computational methods are used. Computational methods yield many potential candidates for experimental validation. This project is about developing a new computational method using dynamic programming to predict miRNA targets with more accuracy. The project discusses the currently available computational methods and develops a new algorithm using the currently available knowledge about miRNA interactions.

Approximate Disassembly Using Dynamic Programming, Abhishek Shah

Master's Projects

Most commercial anti-virus software uses signature based techniques to detect whether a file is infected by a virus or not. However, signature based detection systems are unable to detect metamorphic viruses, since such viruses change their internal structure from generation to generation. Previous work has shown that hidden Markov models (HMMs) can be used to detect metamorphic viruses. In this technique, the code is disassembled and the resulting opcode sequences are used for training and detection. Due to the disassembly step, this process is not efficient enough to use when a decision has to be made in real time.

In …

Improved Worm Simulator And Simulations, Arnold Suvatne

Master's Projects

According to the latest Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIR), worms were the second most prevalent information security threat detected in the first half of 2010 – the top threat being Trojans. Given the prevalence and damaging effects of worms, research and development of worm counter strategies are garnering an increased level of attention. However, it is extremely risky to test and observe worm spread behavior on a public network. What is needed is a packet level worm simulator that would allow researchers to develop and test counter strategies against rapidly spreading worms in a controlled and isolated environment. Jyotsna Krishnaswamy, …

A Study On Masquerade Detection, Lin Huang

Master's Projects

In modern computer systems, usernames and passwords have been by far the most common forms of authentication. A security system relying only on password protection is defenseless when the passwords of legitimate users are compromised. A masquerader can impersonate a legitimate user by using a compromised password.

An intrusion detection system (IDS) can provide an additional level of protection for a security system by inspecting user behavior. In terms of detection techniques, there are two types of IDSs: signature-based detection and anomaly-based detection. An anomaly-based intrusion detection technique consists of two steps: 1) creating a normal behavior model for legitimate …

Automatic Execution Path Finding Tool, Fan Yang

Master's Projects

Today, there are many hackers trying to break software using reverse engineering tech- niques. To better protect software, we need to understand reverse engineering methods. This project presents a tool that automatically analyzes executable code in a manner simi- lar to the way an attack might analyze code.

Using reverse engineering techniques, executables can be disassembled to yield an as- sembly code representation of the program. Assembly code is much more human reada- ble than binary code. With assembly code, an attacker can attempt to modify the program to do something other than what was intended by the developer.

The …

The Quest For The Gnarl, Rudy Rucker

SWITCH

The article describes some of the author’s own image-generating computer programs that he describes as “gnarly”. He began writing a simple spirograph program based off simple sine wave function called Spiro. Later transitioned into writing with C and better programs using more nonlinear feedback. Where Spiro is based on a simple sine wave function, Vine uses a nested sine function: the sine of the sine. The need for a more complicated computational approach lead to iteration and parallelism. Julgnarl uses Iteration and Calife uses parallelism. Calife shows one-dimensional cellular automata: spaces in which virtual computers are lined up like beads …

Interview: Joel Slayton, Christine Laffer

SWITCH

Interview with Joel Slayton, Professor of Computers in Fine Art at San José State University, and Director of the CADRE Institute. Slayton discusses the history of the Cadre Institute and details his views on the relationship between art and new technology. Slayton describes the role of artists in exploring the possibilities and ethical implications of emerging technologies such as genetic engineering, nano-techology, robotics, and artificial life. He describes installations and in-progress work focused on ubiquitous video surveillance. The interview concludes with a discussion of Slayton’s use of the DoWhatDo model for artistic collaboration and of his piece "Conduits," presented in …