Cybersecurity, our digital anchor: A European perspective

The Report ‘Cybersecurity – Our Digital Anchor’ brings together research from different disciplinary fields of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission's science and knowledge service. It provides multidimensional insights into the growth of cybersecurity over the last 40 years, identifying weaknesses in the current digital evolution and their impacts on European citizens and industry. The report also sets out the elements that potentially could be used to shape a brighter and more secure future for Europe’s digital society, taking into account the new cybersecurity challenges triggered by the COVID-19 crisis. According to some projections, cybercrime will cost the world EUR 5.5 trillion by the end of 2020, up from EUR 2.7 trillion in 2015, due in part to the exploitation of the COVID-19 pandemic by cyber criminals. This figure represents the largest transfer of economic wealth in history, more profitable than the global trade in all major illegal drugs combined, putting at risk incentives for innovation and investment. Furthermore, cyber threats have moved beyond cybercrime and have become a matter of national security. The report addresses relevant issues, including: - Critical infrastructures: today, digital technologies are at the heart of all our critical infrastructures. Hence, their cybersecurity is already – and will become increasingly – a matter of critical infrastructure protection (see the cases of Estonia and Ukraine). - Magnitude of impact: the number of citizens, organisations and businesses impacted simultaneously by a single attack can be huge. - Complexity and duration of attacks: attacks are becoming more and more complex, demonstrating attackers’ enhanced planning capabilities. Moreover, attacks are often only detected post-mortem . - Computational power: the spread of malware also able to infect mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) devices (as in the case of Mirai botnet), hugely increases the distributed computational power of the attacks (especially in the case of denial of services (DoS)). The same phenomenon makes the eradication of an attack much more difficult. - Societal aspects: cyber threats can have a potentially massive impact on society, up to the point of undermining the trust citizens have in digital services. As such services are intertwined with our daily life, any successful cybersecurity strategy must take into consideration the human and, more generally, societal aspects. This report shows how the evolution of cybersecurity has always been determined by a type of cause-and-effect trend: the rise in new digital technologies followed by the discovery of new vulnerabilities, for which new cybersecurity measures must be identified. However, the magnitude and impacts of today's cyber attacks are now so critical that the digital society must prepare itself before attacks happen. Cybersecurity resilience along with measures to deter attacks and new ways to avoid software vulnerabilities should be enhanced, developed and supported. The ‘leitmotiv’ of this report is the need for a paradigm shift in the way cybersecurity is designed and deployed, to make it more proactive and better linked to societal needs. Given that data flows and information are the lifeblood of today’s digital society, cybersecurity is essential for ensuring that digital services work safely and securely while simultaneously guaranteeing citizens’ privacy and data protection. Thus, cybersecurity is evolving from a technological ‘option’ to a societal must. From big data to hyperconnectivity, from edge computing to the IoT, to artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing and blockchain technologies, the ‘nitty-gritty’ details of cybersecurity implementation will always remain field-specific due to specific sectoral constraints. This brings with it inherent risks of a digital society with heterogeneous and inconsistent levels of security. To counteract this, we argue for a coherent, cross-sectoral and cross-societal cybersecurity strategy which can be implemented across all layers of European society. This strategy should cover not only the technological aspects but also the societal dimensions of ‘behaving in a cyber-secure way’. Consequently, the report concludes by presenting a series of possible actions instrumental to building a European digital society secure by design.JRC.E.3-Cyber and Digital Citizens' Securit

An ECSO-based approach for optimizing degree distribution of short-length LT codes

Abstract Degree distribution plays a great role in the performance of Luby transform codes. Typical degree distributions such as ideal soliton distribution and robust soliton distribution are easy to implement and widely used. Nevertheless, their adaptabilities are not always outstanding in various code lengths, especially in the case of short length. In this paper, our work is to optimize degree distributions for the short-length LT codes by using swarm intelligence algorithm, considering its conceptual simplicity, high efficiency, flexibility, and robustness. An optimization problem model based on sparse degree distributions is proposed in the first place. Then, a solution on the basis of an enhanced chicken swarm optimization algorithm, termed as ECSO, is designed for the problem. In ECSO, substitution of bottom individuals, revision of chicks’ update equation, and introduction of differential evolution are designed to enhance the ability of optimization. Simulation comparisons show that the proposed solution achieves much better performance than two other swarm intelligence-based solutions

Perspectives on Nonpoint Source Pollution Pt. 1 of 5

This government document is the proceedings of a national conference held in Kansas City, Missouri from May 19-22, 1985. The goals of the conference were fourfold: (1) focus on drawing information from everybody involved with the problem; (2) find out how people throughout the country, at the local level, perceive the nonpoint source problem and how they believe it should be handled; (3) make the information flow from the grass roots upward-the Federal role was to listen and learn and exchange information, not to dominate; and (4) make it practical. Four basic themes evolved as the conference developed: (1) Find practical, affordable solutions not imposed by Federal authority but worked out at the local level. (2) Put to work existing knowledge. (3) Address nonpoint source pollution at the local level. (4) Cooperation is the key. The resulting papers are diverse in length, format, and tone and offer different perspectives on the problem of nonpoint source pollution of our Nation\u27s water

User Authentication and Supervision in Networked Systems

This thesis considers the problem of user authentication and supervision in networked systems. The issue of user authentication is one of on-going concern in modem IT systems with the increased use of computer systems to store and provide access to sensitive information resources. While the traditional username/password login combination can be used to protect access to resources (when used appropriately), users often compromise the security that these methods can provide. While alternative (and often more secure) systems are available, these alternatives usually require expensive hardware to be purchased and integrated into IT systems. Even if alternatives are available (and financially viable), they frequently require users to authenticate in an intrusive manner (e.g. forcing a user to use a biometric technique relying on fingerprint recognition). Assuming an acceptable form of authentication is available, this still does not address the problem of on-going confidence in the users’ identity - i.e. once the user has logged in at the beginning of a session, there is usually no further confirmation of the users' identity until they logout or lock the session in which they are operating. Hence there is a significant requirement to not only improve login authentication but to also introduce the concept of continuous user supervision. Before attempting to implement a solution to the problems outlined above, a range of currently available user authentication methods are identified and evaluated. This is followed by a survey conducted to evaluate user attitudes and opinions relating to login and continuous authentication. The results reinforce perceptions regarding the weaknesses of the traditional username/password combination, and suggest that alternative techniques can be acceptable. This provides justification for the work described in the latter part o f the thesis. A number of small-scale trials are conducted to investigate alternative authentication techniques, using ImagePIN's and associative/cognitive questions. While these techniques are of an intrusive nature, they offer potential improvements as either initial login authentication methods or, as a challenge during a session to confirm the identity of the logged-in user. A potential solution to the problem of continuous user authentication is presented through the design and implementation o f a system to monitor user activity throughout a logged-in session. The effectiveness of this system is evaluated through a series of trials investigating the use of keystroke analysis using digraph, trigraph and keyword-based metrics (with the latter two methods representing novel approaches to the analysis of keystroke data). The initial trials demonstrate the viability of these techniques, whereas later trials are used to demonstrate the potential for a composite approach. The final trial described in this thesis was conducted over a three-month period with 35 trial participants and resulted in over five million samples. Due to the scope, duration, and the volume of data collected, this trial provides a significant contribution to the domain, with the use of a composite analysis method representing entirely new work. The results of these trials show that the technique of keystroke analysis is one that can be effective for the majority of users. Finally, a prototype composite authentication and response system is presented, which demonstrates how transparent, non-intrusive, continuous user authentication can be achieved

Computer-aided drug design and biological evaluation of novel anti-viral agents

In this thesis is presented a description of studies concerning the molecular modelling and biological evaluation of a set of novel antiviral agents for the helicase and polymerase proteins of Flaviviridae. Viruses in this family are enveloped, have positive-sense RNA and are responsible for a variety of life threatening diseases. To date neither specific antiviral treatments exist nor are there any vaccines available for Flaviviridae infection. Thus there is an urgent need for new therapies. The ultimate aim of this project was to design a coordinated in silico in vitro protocol for the design and evaluation of novel Fla viviridae inhibitors. That was achieved initially by establishing the three-dimensional structures of various Flaviviridae members by homology-based molecular modelling. In continuation, a set of small compound libraries was designed using a de novo structure-based drug design approach. Those compounds were screened in silico with the aid of molecular docking and a set of scoring algorithms. The best candidates were chosen to be chemically synthesised not part of this thesis. The genes of Hepatitis C and Dengue helicases as well as the Dengue NS3 domain helicase and protease were cloned in expression vectors and the proteins were produced and purified. A novel biological assay was then established for the Hepatitis C helicase in order to evaluate the potency of the designed inhibitors in vitro. An attempt was finally made to feedback the computer model using the biological activity data of those compounds, in order to improve the cooperation levels between the in silico and the in vitro parts of this research.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Computer-aided drug design and biological evaluation of novel anti-viral agents.

In this thesis is presented a description of studies concerning the molecular modelling and biological evaluation of a set of novel antiviral agents for the helicase and polymerase proteins of Flaviviridae. Viruses in this family are enveloped, have positive-sense RNA and are responsible for a variety of life threatening diseases. To date neither specific antiviral treatments exist nor are there any vaccines available for Flaviviridae infection. Thus there is an urgent need for new therapies. The ultimate aim of this project was to design a coordinated in silico in vitro protocol for the design and evaluation of novel Flaviviridae inhibitors. That was achieved initially by establishing the three-dimensional structures of various Flaviviridae members by homology-based molecular modelling. In continuation, a set of small compound libraries was designed using a de novo structure-based drug design approach. Those compounds were screened in silico with the aid of molecular docking and a set of scoring algorithms. The best candidates were chosen to be chemically synthesised not part of this thesis. The genes of Hepatitis C and Dengue helicases as well as the Dengue NS3 domain helicase and protease were cloned in expression vectors and the proteins were produced and purified. A novel biological assay was then established for the Hepatitis C helicase in order to evaluate the potency of the designed inhibitors in vitro. An attempt was finally made to feedback the computer model using the biological activity data of those compounds, in order to improve the cooperation levels between the in silico and the in vitro parts of this research

Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Energy Efficiency in Commercial Buildings IEECB 12

This book contains the proceedings of the seventh International Conference on Energy Efficiency in Commercial Buildings Frankfurt, Germany 18 - 19 April 2012JRC.F.7-Renewable Energ