Insight:an application of information visualisation techniques to digital forensics investigations

As digital devices are becoming ever more ubiquitous in our day to day lives, more of our personal information and behavioural patterns are recorded on these devices. The volume of data held on these devices is substantial, and people investigating these datasets are facing growing backlog as a result. This is worsened by the fact that many software tools used in this area are text based and do not lend themselves to rapid processing by humans.This body of work looks at several case studies in which these datasets were visualised in attempt to expedite processing by humans. A number of different 2D and 3D visualisation methods were trialled, and the results from these case studies fed into the design of a final tool which was tested with the assistance of a group of individuals studying Digital Forensics.The results of this research show some encouraging results which indicate visualisation may assist analysis in some aspects, and indicates useful paths for future work

Social Simulation and Analysis of the Dynamics of Criminal Hot Spots

Within the field of Criminology, the spatio-temporal dynamics of crime are an important subject of study. In this area, typical questions are how the behaviour of offenders, targets, and guardians can be explained and predicted, as well as the emergence and displacement of criminal hot spots. In this article we present a combination of software tools that can be used as an experimental environment to address such questions. In particular, these tools comprise an agent-based simulation model, a verification tool, and a visualisation tool. The agent-based simulation model specifically focuses on the interplay between hot spots and reputation. Using this environment, a large number of simulation runs have been performed, of which results have been formally analysed. Based on these results, we argue that the presented environment offers a valuable approach to analyse the dynamics of criminal hot spots.Agent-Based Modelling, Criminal Hot Spots, Displacement, Reputation, Social Simulation, Analysis

Compositional game theory

We introduce open games as a compositional foundation of economic game theory. A compositional approach potentially allows methods of game theory and theoretical computer science to be applied to large-scale economic models for which standard economic tools are not practical. An open game represents a game played relative to an arbitrary environment and to this end we introduce the concept of coutility, which is the utility generated by an open game and returned to its environment. Open games are the morphisms of a symmetric monoidal category and can therefore be composed by categorical composition into sequential move games and by monoidal products into simultaneous move games. Open games can be represented by string diagrams which provide an intuitive but formal visualisation of the information flows. We show that a variety of games can be faithfully represented as open games in the sense of having the same Nash equilibria and off-equilibrium best responses.Comment: This version submitted to LiCS 201

Exploring Minds. Modes of Modelling and Simulation in Artificial Intelligence

The aim of this paper is to grasp the relevant distinctions between various ways in which models and simulations in Artificial Intelligence (AI) relate to cognitive phenomena. In order to get a systematic picture, a taxonomy is developed that is based on the coordinates of formal versus material analogies and theory-guided versus pre-theoretic models in science. These distinctions have parallels in the computational versus mimetic aspects and in analytic versus exploratory types of computer simulation. This taxonomy cuts across the traditional dichotomies between symbolic / embodied AI, general intelligence / cognitive simulation and human / non-human-like AI. According to the taxonomy proposed here, one can distinguish between four distinct general approaches that figured prominently in early and classical AI, and that have partly developed into distinct research programmes: first, phenomenal simulations (e.g., Turing’s “imitation game”); second, simulations that explore general-level formal isomorphisms in pursuit of a general theory of intelligence (e.g., logic-based AI); third, simulations as exploratory material models that serve to develop theoretical accounts of cognitive processes (e.g., Marr’s stages of visual processing and classical connectionism); and fourth, simulations as strictly formal models of a theory of computation that postulates cognitive processes to be isomorphic with computational processes (strong symbolic AI). In continuation of pragmaticist views of the modes of modelling and simulating world affairs (Humphreys, Winsberg), this taxonomy of approaches to modelling in AI helps to elucidate how available computational concepts and simulational resources contribute to the modes of representation and theory development in AI research – and what made that research programme uniquely dependent on them

Bounded rationality for relaxing best response and mutual consistency: The Quantal Hierarchy model of decision-making

While game theory has been transformative for decision-making, the assumptions made can be overly restrictive in certain instances. In this work, we focus on some of the assumptions underlying rationality such as mutual consistency and best response, and consider ways to relax these assumptions using concepts from level-$k$ reasoning and quantal response equilibrium (QRE) respectively. Specifically, we provide an information-theoretic two-parameter model that can relax both mutual consistency and best response, but can recover approximations of level-$k$, QRE, or typical Nash equilibrium behaviour in the limiting cases. The proposed Quantal Hierarchy model is based on a recursive form of the variational free energy principle, representing self-referential games as (pseudo) sequential decisions. Bounds in player processing abilities are captured as information costs, where future chains of reasoning are discounted, implying a hierarchy of players where lower-level players have fewer processing resources. We demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model to several canonical economic games.Comment: 36 pages, 15 figure

A Case of Sesame Seeds: Growing and Nurturing Credentials in the Face of Mimicry

The purpose of this paper is to put the study of mimicry on the information security research map. Mimicry in humans has received little scholarly attention. Sociologist Diego Gambetta has constructed a framework that enables reasoning about episodes of mimicry based on trust in signs. By looking at the problem of phishing the applicability of this framework to problems of mimicry in information security system was tested. It was found that while the framework offers valuable insights, it needs to be updated since the assumptions that it makes do not hold in practice. A new framework is proposed, built on the core ideas of Gambetta’s framework, and extended with results from a literature study of phishing and other sources. This framework has been used for finding possible solutions to problems in web browser interface design. Because the nature of authentication was found to be the observation of discriminatory signals the paper also discusses the ethical issues surrounding the use of credentials. We hope that this paper will help system designers in finding and choosing appropriate credentials for authentication. By using the proposed framework a system can be analysed for the presence of credentials that enable the discrimination between genuine users and impostors. The framework can also serve as a method for identifying the dynamics behind user verification of credentials. The two problems that the framework can help address are the impersonation of providers and the impersonation of users. Like much other security research the results of this paper can be misused by attackers. It is expected that the framework will be more useful for defenders than attackers, as it is of an analytical nature, and cannot be used directly in any attacks. Since this study is of an exploratory nature the findings of the study need to be verified through research with greater validity. The paper contains directions for further research