Between quantum logic and concurrency

We start from two closure operators defined on the elements of a special kind of partially ordered sets, called causal nets. Causal nets are used to model histories of concurrent processes, recording occurrences of local states and of events. If every maximal chain (line) of such a partially ordered set meets every maximal antichain (cut), then the two closure operators coincide, and generate a complete orthomodular lattice. In this paper we recall that, for any closed set in this lattice, every line meets either it or its orthocomplement in the lattice, and show that to any line, a two-valued state on the lattice can be associated. Starting from this result, we delineate a logical language whose formulas are interpreted over closed sets of a causal net, where every line induces an assignment of truth values to formulas. The resulting logic is non-classical; we show that maximal antichains in a causal net are associated to Boolean (hence "classical") substructures of the overall quantum logic.Comment: In Proceedings QPL 2012, arXiv:1407.842

A Taxonomy for Incidents in Communication Systems

This report deals with the construction of a taxonomy of incidents in communication systems and is organised as follows: the first section concerns a survey of existing taxonomies, glossaries or controlled languages for computer security incidents. It starts with a definition of the terms used in this report and a discussion on the use of taxonomies as measurement tools. The survey aims at clarifying the importance of the definition of a common language for exchanging and gathering information on computer security. The second section presents the original ideas for the taxonomy proposed with this report. The main assumption is in the definition of the main functions a communication system should perform and in defining a disruption as the lack of one of these functions. The third section is the actual presentation of the taxonomy. Some examples of classification in this taxonomy of known computer security incidents are added. While the overall aim of this work is at the construction of complete taxonomy for communication systems --- including the telecommunication services --- the examples provided in this section will mainly deal with disruptions occurring in the Internet domain. The fourth section presents the future work to be done for continuing the development of the taxonomy proposed here.JRC.G.6-Security technology assessmen

Computers and Coordination of Debate II

This report is the continuation of the JRC report 115574 Computers and Coordination of Debate. In that report the stress was on the classification of computer tools from the perspective of the relative strength of the procedure adopted for keeping order in a debate and on the representation of the flow of argumentation. In this report, we devote more attention to a subclass of the tools previously considered: tools for the coordination of open debates, that is debates without an explicit conclusion in form of a common decision taken by the assembly. Common decision usually recorded in some act or document, possibly after a vote. This report is composed by two main sections and its aim is at proposing some assessment criteria for the design and analysis of tools for the coordination of debates and checking the usefulness of these criteria against a sample of existing tools. These tools are listed and analysed in the second section while the first section describes the criteria, called here analytical lenses, adopted during the analysis. This report is prepared from the perspective of Computer Science, with a specific point of view: the design of communication systems. Implications to policy making is addressed only marginally, when required as an ingredient for the analysis but it is not the primary point of view. This report is the result of a collaboration among JRC E.2, JRC H.1 and ESTAT A.1.JRC.E.2 - Technology Innovation in Securit

Requirements of a Quantum Key Distribution Reference Platform. JRC Project 867 Quantum Cryptography Study

The concept of a quantum key distribution reference platform is defined and the background against which the requirements for such a platform have been identified is explained. Availability of products, forthcoming QKD networks, standards, and the character of the market are explained. The requirements themselves are listed, with a brief explanation of the rationale for each. The main applications of interest are described.JRC.G.5-Security technology assessmen

Design of a Controlled Language for Critical Infrastructures Protection

We describe a project for the construction of controlled language for critical infrastructures protection (CIP). This project originates from the need to coordinate and categorize the communications on CIP at the European level. These communications can be physically represented by official documents, reports on incidents, informal communications and plain e-mail. We explore the application of traditional library science tools for the construction of controlled languages in order to achieve our goal. Our starting point is an analogous work done during the sixties in the field of nuclear science known as the Euratom Thesaurus.JRC.G.6-Security technology assessmen

A model of distributed key generation for industrial control systems

11th International Workshop on Discrete Event Systems, WODES 2012; Guadalajara, Jalisco; Mexico; 3 October 2012 through 5 October 2012The cyber-security of industrial control systems (ICS) is gaining high relevance due to the impact of industrial system failures on the citizen life. There is an urgent need for the consideration of security in their design, and for the analysis of the related vulnerabilities and potential threats. The high exposure of industrial critical infrastructure to cyber-threats is mainly due to the intrinsic weakness of the communication protocols used to control the process network. The peculiarities of the industrial protocols (low computational power, large geographical distribution, near to real-time constraints) make hard the effective use of traditional cryptographic schemes and in particular the implementation of an effective key management infrastructure supporting a cryptographic layer. In this paper, we describe a "model of distributed key generation for industrial control systems" we have recently implemented. The model is based on a known Distributed Key Generator protocol we have adapted to an industrial control system environment and to the related communication protocol (Modbus). To validate in a formal way selected security properties of the model, we introduced a Petri Nets representation. This representation allows for modeling attacks against the protocol and understanding some potential weaknesses of its implementation in the industrial control system environment

The Impact of quantum technologies on the EU's Future Policies: Part 3 Perspectives for Quantum Computing

This report describes a survey of opinions in relevant technology communities regarding the best options for research and development of quantum computing, the likely impact on various sectors, and the expected timescales. The survey is intended to contribute to the preparatory discussions for the quantum technology Future and Emerging Technology (FET) Flagship, planned for 2020-30. The overall view of the participants on the technological perspectives for quantum computing is positive and it is seen as likely to be benign.JRC.E.2-Technology Innovation in Securit

Role of thesauri in a scientific organisation

We aim to describe the mediation language between users and indexers in a document retrieval system for a big scientific community intimately related to European Union policies. We assume that this mediation is played by thesauri: sets of indexes apparently coordinating the possible searches by means of term-to-term relations like NT, RT and so on. While persons-to-terms relations are consequent to the use of thesauri for indexing and retrieval, person-to-person relations are embodied into a thesaurus via the implicit repre- sentation of the organisation it serves. In this way, thesauri constitute a network of mediation having historical, social and - because of the scien- tific community served - scientific and technological perspectives. These three perspectives are embedded in time, since changes in organisation change the person-to-person relations, change in retrieval and indexing needs change the person-to-term relations and changes in document type and science change term-to-term relations. In particular, we want to analyse the network originally proposed by the EURATOM thesaurus (1st ed.; European Atomic Energy Community. Information and Documentation Center, Brussels, 1964) and the network of relations - in the three perspectives above - it assumed. Subsequently, we compare the results of this analysis with a more recent thesaurus designed for a community very close to the one originating the EURATOM thesaurus. In doing this, we designed a system that aims the user to browse a path built through the relations. Its in- terface is based on different concepts: Focus+Context and Elastic Grid, which led to the creation of a flexible graphical structure characterised by hierarchically-arranged and scalable information visualisation

JRC FAIR Data Guidelines

The JRC Data Policy requires that JRC Data be managed following the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) Principles. This paper is a deliverable of the JRC Data Strategy in its call to publish Guidelines to support and enhance the FAIRness of JRC data. The paper provides a framework for evaluating and increasing the level of adherence of JRC datasets to the FAIR Principles, while taking into account specific solutions and strategies available to data publishers. It proposes five progressive levels of FAIR Maturity, indicating which of the FAIR maturity indicators the levels follow and suggesting steps that can improve their FAIR maturity level.JRC.T.4 - Data Governance and Service