BitTorrent Sync: Network Investigation Methodology

The volume of personal information and data most Internet users find themselves amassing is ever increasing and the fast pace of the modern world results in most requiring instant access to their files. Millions of these users turn to cloud based file synchronisation services, such as Dropbox, Microsoft Skydrive, Apple iCloud and Google Drive, to enable "always-on" access to their most up-to-date data from any computer or mobile device with an Internet connection. The prevalence of recent articles covering various invasion of privacy issues and data protection breaches in the media has caused many to review their online security practices with their personal information. To provide an alternative to cloud based file backup and synchronisation, BitTorrent Inc. released an alternative cloudless file backup and synchronisation service, named BitTorrent Sync to alpha testers in April 2013. BitTorrent Sync's popularity rose dramatically throughout 2013, reaching over two million active users by the end of the year. This paper outlines a number of scenarios where the network investigation of the service may prove invaluable as part of a digital forensic investigation. An investigation methodology is proposed outlining the required steps involved in retrieving digital evidence from the network and the results from a proof of concept investigation are presented.Comment: 9th International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES 2014

Issues surrounding cyber-safety for Indigenous Australians

This inquiry examined issues surrounding cyber-safety for Indigenous Australians, particularly young people in remote and rural communities.Introduction to the inquiryOn 20 March 2013 the Committee adopted an inquiry into the issues surrounding cyber-safety for Indigenous Australians.This inquiry followed the Committee’s previous inquiries into Cyber-Safety and the Young and Cybersafety for Senior Australians. Following completion of those inquiries, the Committee believed that issues surrounding cyber-safety for Indigenous Australians warranted further, more in-depth investigation. Therefore, under paragraph (1)(b) of its Resolution of Appointment, the Committee adopted the inquiry which is the subject of this report.As a Select Committee, under paragraph (17) of the Resolution of Appointment, the Committee must present its final report to Parliament no later than 27 June 2013. The terms of reference, which can be found at the start of this report, are far-reaching and could not be accomplished in any depth in the available timeframe.The Committee, therefore resolved to use the available time to investigate to the extent possible what particular issues Indigenous people might be facing with cyber-safety. This brief report discusses those issues and finds that a longer, more in-depth investigation of the topic by a Committee in the 44th Parliament would be appropriate

Applying Lessons from Cyber Attacks on Ukrainian Infrastructures to Secure Gateways onto the Industrial Internet of Things

Previous generations of safety-related industrial control systems were ‘air gapped’. In other words, process control components including Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and smart sensor/actuators were disconnected and isolated from local or wide area networks. This provided a degree of protection; attackers needed physical access to compromise control systems components. Over time this ‘air gap’ has gradually been eroded. Switches and gateways have subsequently interfaced industrial protocols, including Profibus and Modbus, so that data can be drawn from safety-related Operational Technology into enterprise information systems using TCP/IP. Senior management uses these links to monitor production processes and inform strategic planning. The Industrial Internet of Things represents another step in this evolution – enabling the coordination of physically distributed resources from a centralized location. The growing range and sophistication of these interconnections create additional security concerns for the operation and management of safety-critical systems. This paper uses lessons learned from recent attacks on Ukrainian critical infrastructures to guide a forensic analysis of an IIoT switch. The intention is to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities that would enable similar attacks to be replicated across Europe and North America

Digital Dissemination Platform of Transportation Engineering Education Materials Founded in Adoption Research

INE/AUTC 14.0