Identity in research infrastructure and scientific communication: Report from the 1st IRISC workshop, Helsinki Sep 12-13, 2011

Motivation for the IRISC workshop came from the observation that identity and digital identification are increasingly important factors in modern scientific research, especially with the now near-ubiquitous use of the Internet as a global medium for dissemination and debate of scientific knowledge and data, and as a platform for scientific collaborations and large-scale e-science activities.

The 1 1/2 day IRISC2011 workshop sought to explore a series of interrelated topics under two main themes: i) unambiguously identifying authors/creators & attributing their scholarly works, and ii) individual identification and access management in the context of identity federations. Specific aims of the workshop included:

• Raising overall awareness of key technical and non-technical challenges, opportunities and developments.
• Facilitating a dialogue, cross-pollination of ideas, collaboration and coordination between diverse – and largely unconnected – communities.
• Identifying & discussing existing/emerging technologies, best practices and requirements for researcher identification.

This report provides background information on key identification-related concepts & projects, describes workshop proceedings and summarizes key workshop findings

A Survey on Wireless Security: Technical Challenges, Recent Advances and Future Trends

This paper examines the security vulnerabilities and threats imposed by the inherent open nature of wireless communications and to devise efficient defense mechanisms for improving the wireless network security. We first summarize the security requirements of wireless networks, including their authenticity, confidentiality, integrity and availability issues. Next, a comprehensive overview of security attacks encountered in wireless networks is presented in view of the network protocol architecture, where the potential security threats are discussed at each protocol layer. We also provide a survey of the existing security protocols and algorithms that are adopted in the existing wireless network standards, such as the Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and the long-term evolution (LTE) systems. Then, we discuss the state-of-the-art in physical-layer security, which is an emerging technique of securing the open communications environment against eavesdropping attacks at the physical layer. We also introduce the family of various jamming attacks and their counter-measures, including the constant jammer, intermittent jammer, reactive jammer, adaptive jammer and intelligent jammer. Additionally, we discuss the integration of physical-layer security into existing authentication and cryptography mechanisms for further securing wireless networks. Finally, some technical challenges which remain unresolved at the time of writing are summarized and the future trends in wireless security are discussed.Comment: 36 pages. Accepted to Appear in Proceedings of the IEEE, 201

Secure Data Sharing With AdHoc

In the scientific circles, there is pressing need to form temporary and dynamic collaborations to share diverse resources (e.g. data, an access to services, applications or various instruments). Theoretically, the traditional grid technologies respond to this need with the abstraction of a Virtual Organization (VO). In practice its procedures are characterized by latency, administrative overhead and are inconvenient to its users. We would like to propose the Manifesto for Secure Sharing. The main postulate is that users should be able to share data and resources by themselves without any intervention on the system administrator's side. In addition, operating an intuitive interface does not require IT skills. AdHoc is a resource sharing interface designed for users willing to share data or computational resources within seconds and almost effortlessly. The AdHoc application is built on the top of traditional security frameworks, such as the PKI X.509 certificate scheme, Globus GSI, gLite VOMS and Shibboleth. It enables users rapid and secure collaboration

The Value of User-Visible Internet Cryptography

Cryptographic mechanisms are used in a wide range of applications, including email clients, web browsers, document and asset management systems, where typical users are not cryptography experts. A number of empirical studies have demonstrated that explicit, user-visible cryptographic mechanisms are not widely used by non-expert users, and as a result arguments have been made that cryptographic mechanisms need to be better hidden or embedded in end-user processes and tools. Other mechanisms, such as HTTPS, have cryptography built-in and only become visible to the user when a dialogue appears due to a (potential) problem. This paper surveys deployed and potential technologies in use, examines the social and legal context of broad classes of users, and from there, assesses the value and issues for those users

A Security-aware Approach to JXTA-Overlay Primitives

The JXTA-Overlay project is an effort to use JXTA technology to provide a generic set of functionalities that can be used by developers to deploy P2P applications. Since its design mainly focuses on issues such as scalability or overall performance, it does not take security into account. However, as P2P applications have evolved to fulfill more complex scenarios, security has become a very important aspect to take into account when evaluating a P2P framework. This work proposes a security extension specifically suited to JXTA-Overlay¿s idiosyncrasies, providing an acceptable solution to some of its current shortcomings.El proyecto JXTA-Overlay es un esfuerzo por utilizar la tecnología JXTA para proporcionar un conjunto genérico de funciones que pueden ser utilizadas por los desarrolladores para desplegar aplicaciones P2P. Aunque su diseño se centra principalmente en cuestiones como la escalabilidad y el rendimiento general, no tiene en cuenta la seguridad. Sin embargo, como las aplicaciones P2P se han desarrollado para cumplir con escenarios más complejos, la seguridad se ha convertido en un aspecto muy importante a tener en cuenta a la hora de evaluar un marco P2P. Este artículo propone una extensión de seguridad específicamente adaptada a la idiosincrasia de JXTA-Overlay, proporcionando una solución aceptable para algunas de sus deficiencias actuales.El projecte JXTA-Overlay és un esforç per utilitzar la tecnologia JXTA per proporcionar un conjunt genèric de funcions que poden ser utilitzades pels desenvolupadors per desplegar aplicacions P2P. Tot i que el seu disseny se centra principalment en qüestions com ara la escalabilitat i el rendiment general, no té en compte la seguretat. No obstant això, com que les aplicacions P2P s'han desenvolupat per complir amb escenaris més complexos, la seguretat s'ha convertit en un aspecte molt important a tenir en compte a l'hora d'avaluar un marc P2P. Aquest article proposa una extensió de seguretat específicament adaptada a la idiosincràsia de JXTA-Overlay, proporcionant una solució acceptable per a algunes de les seves deficiències actuals

Systematizing Decentralization and Privacy: Lessons from 15 Years of Research and Deployments

Decentralized systems are a subset of distributed systems where multiple authorities control different components and no authority is fully trusted by all. This implies that any component in a decentralized system is potentially adversarial. We revise fifteen years of research on decentralization and privacy, and provide an overview of key systems, as well as key insights for designers of future systems. We show that decentralized designs can enhance privacy, integrity, and availability but also require careful trade-offs in terms of system complexity, properties provided, and degree of decentralization. These trade-offs need to be understood and navigated by designers. We argue that a combination of insights from cryptography, distributed systems, and mechanism design, aligned with the development of adequate incentives, are necessary to build scalable and successful privacy-preserving decentralized systems