Secure and Authenticated Message Dissemination in Vehicular ad hoc Networks and an Incentive-Based Architecture for Vehicular Cloud

Vehicular ad hoc Networks (VANETs) allow vehicles to form a self-organized network. VANETs are likely to be widely deployed in the future, given the interest shown by industry in self-driving cars and satisfying their customers various interests. Problems related to Mobile ad hoc Networks (MANETs) such as routing, security, etc.have been extensively studied. Even though VANETs are special type of MANETs, solutions proposed for MANETs cannot be directly applied to VANETs because all problems related to MANETs have been studied for small networks. Moreover, in MANETs, nodes can move randomly. On the other hand, movement of nodes in VANETs are constrained to roads and the number of nodes in VANETs is large and covers typically large area. The following are the contributions of the thesis. Secure, authenticated, privacy preserving message dissemination in VANETs: When vehicles in VANET observe phenomena such as accidents, icy road condition, etc., they need to disseminate this information to vehicles in appropriate areas so the drivers of those vehicles can take appropriate action. When such messages are disseminated, the authenticity of the vehicles disseminating such messages should be verified while at the same time the anonymity of the vehicles should be preserved. Moreover, to punish the vehicles spreading malicious messages, authorities should be able to trace such messages to their senders when necessary. For this, we present an efficient protocol for the dissemination of authenticated messages. Incentive-based architecture for vehicular cloud: Due to the advantages such as exibility and availability, interest in cloud computing has gained lot of attention in recent years. Allowing vehicles in VANETs to store the collected information in the cloud would facilitate other vehicles to retrieve this information when they need. In this thesis, we present a secure incentive-based architecture for vehicular cloud. Our architecture allows vehicles to collect and store information in the cloud; it also provides a mechanism for rewarding vehicles that contributing to the cloud. Privacy preserving message dissemination in VANETs: Sometimes, it is sufficient to ensure the anonymity of the vehicles disseminating messages in VANETs. We present a privacy preserving message dissemination protocol for VANETs

Maintaining Security and Trust in Large Scale Public Key Infrastructures

In Public Key Infrastructures (PKIs), trusted Certification Authorities (CAs) issue public key certificates which bind public keys to the identities of their owners. This enables the authentication of public keys which is a basic prerequisite for the use of digital signatures and public key encryption. These in turn are enablers for e-business, e-government and many other applications, because they allow for secure electronic communication. With the Internet being the primary communication medium in many areas of economic, social, and political life, the so-called Web PKI plays a central role. The Web PKI denotes the global PKI which enables the authentication of the public keys of web servers within the TLS protocol and thus serves as the basis for secure communications over the Internet. However, the use of PKIs in practice bears many unsolved problems. Numerous security incidents in recent years have revealed weaknesses of the Web PKI. Because of these weaknesses, the security of Internet communication is increasingly questioned. Central issues are (1) the globally predefined trust in hundreds of CAs by browsers and operating systems. These CAs are subject to a variety of jurisdictions and differing security policies, while it is sufficient to compromise a single CA in order to break the security provided by the Web PKI. And (2) the handling of revocation of certificates. Revocation is required to invalidate certificates, e.g., if they were erroneously issued or the associated private key has been compromised. Only this can prevent their misuse by attackers. Yet, revocation is only effective if it is published in a reliable way. This turned out to be a difficult problem in the context of the Web PKI. Furthermore, the fact that often a great variety of services depends on a single CA is a serious problem. As a result, it is often almost impossible to revoke a CA's certificate. However, this is exactly what is necessary to prevent the malicious issuance of certificates with the CA's key if it turns out that a CA is in fact not trustworthy or the CA's systems have been compromised. In this thesis, we therefore turn to the question of how to ensure that the CAs an Internet user trusts in are actually trustworthy. Based on an in depth analysis of the Web PKI, we present solutions for the different issues. In this thesis, the feasibility and practicality of the presented solutions is of central importance. From the problem analysis, which includes the evaluation of past security incidents and previous scientific work on the matter, we derive requirements for a practical solution. For the solution of problem (1), we introduce user-centric trust management for the Web PKI. This allows to individually reduce the number of CAs a user trusts in to a fraction of the original number. This significantly reduces the risk to rely on a CA, which is actually not trustworthy. The assessment of a CA's trustworthiness is user dependent and evidence-based. In addition, the method allows to monitor the revocation status for the certificates relevant to a user. This solves the first part of problem (2). Our solution can be realized within the existing infrastructure without introducing significant overhead or usability issues. Additionally, we present an extension by online service providers. This enables to share locally collected trust information with other users and thus, to improve the necessary bootstrapping of the system. Moreover, an efficient detection mechanism for untrustworthy CAs is realized. In regard to the second part of problem (2), we present a CA revocation tolerant PKI construction based on forward secure signature schemes (FSS). Forward security means that even in case of a key compromise, previously generated signatures can still be trusted. This makes it possible to implement revocation mechanisms such that CA certificates can be revoked, without compromising the availability of dependent web services. We describe how the Web PKI can be transitioned to a CA revocation tolerant PKI taking into account the relevant standards. The techniques developed in this thesis also enable us to address the related problem of ``non-repudiation'' of digital signatures. Non-repudiation is an important security goal for many e-business and e-government applications. Yet, non-repudiation is not guaranteed by standard PKIs. Current solutions, which are based on time-stamps generated by trusted third parties, are inefficient and costly. In this work, we show how non-repudiation can be made a standard property of PKIs. This makes time-stamps obsolete. The techniques presented in this thesis are evaluated in terms of practicality and performance. This is based on theoretical results as well as on experimental analyses. Our results show that the proposed methods are superior to previous approaches. In summary, this thesis presents mechanisms which make the practical use of PKIs more secure and more efficient and demonstrates the practicability of the presented techniques

Formal Mitigation Strategies for the Insider Threat: A Security Model and Risk Analysis Framework

The advancement of technology and reliance on information systems have fostered an environment of sharing and trust. The rapid growth and dependence on these systems, however, creates an increased risk associated with the insider threat. The insider threat is one of the most challenging problems facing the security of information systems because the insider already has capabilities within the system. Despite research efforts to prevent and detect insiders, organizations remain susceptible to this threat because of inadequate security policies and a willingness of some individuals to betray their organization. To investigate these issues, a formal security model and risk analysis framework are used to systematically analyze this threat and develop effective mitigation strategies. This research extends the Schematic Protection Model to produce the first comprehensive security model capable of analyzing the safety of a system against the insider threat. The model is used to determine vulnerabilities in security policies and system implementation. Through analysis, mitigation strategies that effectively reduce the threat are identified. Furthermore, an action-based taxonomy that expresses the insider threat through measurable and definable actions is presented. A risk analysis framework is also developed that identifies individuals within an organization that display characteristics indicative of a malicious insider. The framework uses a multidisciplinary process by combining behavior and technical attributes to produce a single threat level for each individual within the organization. Statistical analysis using the t-distribution and prediction interval on the threat levels reveal those individuals that are a potential threat to the organization. The effectiveness of the framework is illustrated using the case study of Robert Hanssen, demonstrating the process would likely have identified him as an insider threat

Electronic Evidence and Electronic Signatures

In this updated edition of the well-established practitioner text, Stephen Mason and Daniel Seng have brought together a team of experts in the field to provide an exhaustive treatment of electronic evidence and electronic signatures. This fifth edition continues to follow the tradition in English evidence text books by basing the text on the law of England and Wales, with appropriate citations of relevant case law and legislation from other jurisdictions. Stephen Mason (of the Middle Temple, Barrister) is a leading authority on electronic evidence and electronic signatures, having advised global corporations and governments on these topics. He is also the editor of International Electronic Evidence (British Institute of International and Comparative Law 2008), and he founded the innovative international open access journal Digital Evidence and Electronic Signatures Law Review in 2004. Daniel Seng (Associate Professor, National University of Singapore) is the Director of the Centre for Technology, Robotics, AI and the Law (TRAIL). He teaches and researches information technology law and evidence law. Daniel was previously a partner and head of the technology practice at Messrs Rajah & Tann. He is also an active consultant to the World Intellectual Property Organization, where he has researched, delivered papers and published monographs on copyright exceptions for academic institutions, music copyright in the Asia Pacific and the liability of Internet intermediaries

User-controlled Identity Management Systems using mobile devices

Thousands of websites providing an array of diversified online services have been the crucial factor for popularising the Internet around the world during last 15 years. The current model of accessing the majority of those services requires users to register with a Service Provider - an administrative body that offers and provides online services. The registration procedure involves users providing a number of pieces of data about themselves which are then stored at the provider. This data provides a digital image of the user and is commonly known as the Identity of the user in that provider. To access different online services, users register at different providers and ultimately end up with a number of scattered identities which become increasingly difficult to manage. It is one of the major problems of the current setting of online services. What is even worse is that users have less control over the data stored in these providers and have no knowledge how their data is treated by providers. The concept of Identity Management has been introduced to help users facilitate the management of their identities in a user-friendly, secure and privacy-friendly way and thus, to tackle the stated problems. There exists a number of Identity Management models and systems, unfortunately, none of them has played a pivotal role in tackling the problems effectively and comprehensively. Simultaneously, we have experienced another trend expanding at a remarkable rate: the consumption and the usage of smart mobile devices. These mobile devices are not only growing in numbers but also in capability and capacity in terms of processing power and memory. Most are equipped with powerful hardware and highly-dynamic mobile operating systems offering touch-sensitive intuitive user-interfaces. In many ways, these mobile devices have become an integrated part of our day-to-day life and accompany us everywhere we go. The capability, portability and ubiquitous presence of such mobile devices lead to the core objective of this research: the investigation of how such mobile devices can be used to overcome the limitations of the current Identity Management Systems as well as to provide innovative online services. In short, this research investigates the need for a novel Identity Management System and the role the current generation of smart mobile devices can play in realising such a system. In this research it has been found that there exist different inconsistent notions of many central topics in Identity Management which are mostly defined in textual forms. To tackle this problem, a comprehensive mathematical model of Identity and Identity Management has been developed. The model has been used to analyse several phenomenons of Identity Management and to characterise different Identity Management models. Next, three popular Identity Management Systems have been compared using a taxonomy of requirements to identify the strength and weakness of each system. One of the major findings is that how different privacy requirements are satisfied in these systems is not standardised and depends on a specific implementation. Many systems even do not satisfy many of those requirements which can drastically affect the privacy of a user. To tackle the identified problems, the concept of a novel Identity Management System, called User-controlled Identity Management System, has been proposed. This system offers better privacy and allows users to exert more control over their data from a central location using a novel type of provider, called Portable Personal Identity Provider, hosted inside a smart mobile device of the user. It has been analysed how the proposed system can tackle the stated problems effectively and how it opens up new doors of opportunities for online services. In addition, it has been investigated how contextual information such as a location can be utilised to provide online services using the proposed provider. One problem in the existing Identity Management Systems is that providers cannot provide any contextual information such as the location of a user. Hosting a provider in a mobile device allows it to access different sensors of the device, retrieve contextual information from them and then to provide such information. A framework has been proposed to harness this capability in order to offer innovative services. Another major issue of the current Identity Management Systems is the lack of an effective mechanism to combine attributes from multiple providers. To overcome this problem, an architecture has been proposed and it has been discussed how this architecture can be utilised to offer innovative services. Furthermore, it has been analysed how the privacy of a user can be improved using the proposed provider while accessing such services. Realising these proposals require that several technical barriers are overcome. For each proposal, these barriers have been identified and addressed appropriately along with the respective proof of concept prototype implementation. These prototypes have been utilised to illustrate the applicability of the proposals using different use-cases. Furthermore, different functional, security and privacy requirements suitable for each proposal have been formulated and it has been analysed how the design choices and implementations have satisfied these requirements. Also, no discussion in Identity Management can be complete without analysing the underlying trust assumptions. Therefore, different trust issues have been explored in greater details throughout the thesis

Department of Computer Science Activity 1998-2004

This report summarizes much of the research and teaching activity of the Department of Computer Science at Dartmouth College between late 1998 and late 2004. The material for this report was collected as part of the final report for NSF Institutional Infrastructure award EIA-9802068, which funded equipment and technical staff during that six-year period. This equipment and staff supported essentially all of the department\u27s research activity during that period

Secure collaboration in onboarding

The process of onboarding a company is characterized by inter-enterprise collaboration between the acquiring and the acquired companies. Multiple cross-functional teams are formed to assimilate and integrate the processes, products, data, customers, and partners of the company under acquisition. Dynamic access control management in such inter-enterprise collaboration is the subject of this thesis. A problem in inter-enterprise collaboration in onboarding is that information assets shared by collaborating teams are not adequately protected. As a result, there is potential for accidental or malicious leakage of sensitive business information like the intellectual property, product roadmaps and strategy, customer lists etc. Also, the statically defined access control policies are not sufficient to address access control requirements of dynamic collaboration where there is a constant change in people, processes, and information assets in collaboration repository. This research proposes a new approach and model to integrate security in onboarding collaboration process. Research methods such as, literature review, field studies including direct experiential projects in onboarding and interviews with experts in Mergers and Acquisitions, and detailed data collection and analysis through surveys are used to identify the issues that need to be addressed in the onboarding process. Literature review enabled the identification of access control requirements from the perspective of statically defined policies and the need to determine access dynamically. From the field studies, it was deciphered that there is a need for a well-defined onboarding collaboration process. The data analysis and interpretation from the survey results provided insights into the needs for integrating security in all phases of onboarding collaboration. All these research methods essentially enabled identification of two key issues that this research addresses: 1) well-defined onboarding collaboration process and 2) building security in all phases of onboarding collaboration. A new approach and model called SCODA is developed to integrate security in all phases of onboarding collaboration. Onboarding collaboration process consists of four phases: create, operate, dissolve, and archive. These phases provide the basis for systematically addressing security and access control when the collaboration team is formed, while it is operating, when the team is dissolved after completing its tasks, and when shared information assets are archived. The research adapts role based access control (RBAC) and formally defines the enterprise, functional, and collaboration roles for making access control management decisions. New ideas are developed in trustbased access control management in dynamic collaboration. The change management aspects are also discussed. The SCODA model is validated and the refinements incorporated accordingly. This research contributed to both theory and practice of information security in general and access control in particular in the context of dynamic collaboration. It proposed a new approach of building security in, i.e. to integrate security in all phases of collaboration. In order to build security in, a new onboarding collaboration process is developed that is adaptable and customizable. It has also developed a new approach for trust based dynamic access control based on the new concepts of strong and weak trust relationships. These trust relationships are also adaptable and customizable. Finally, this research has potential for future research work in the design and implementation of multi-paradigm based enterprise security frameworks and interenterprise collaboration

Formal Aspects in Security and Trust

his book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Formal Aspects in Security and Trust, FAST 2005, held in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK in July 2005. The 17 revised papers presented together with the extended abstract of 1 invited paper were carefully reviewed and selected from 37 submissions. The papers focus on formal aspects in security and trust policy models, security protocol design and analysis, formal models of trust and reputation, logics for security and trust, distributed trust management systems, trust-based reasoning, digital assets protection, data protection, privacy and ID issues, information flow analysis, language-based security, security and trust aspects in ubiquitous computing, validation/analysis tools, web service security/trust/privacy, GRID security, security risk assessment, and case studies

Electronic Evidence and Electronic Signatures

In this updated edition of the well-established practitioner text, Stephen Mason and Daniel Seng have brought together a team of experts in the field to provide an exhaustive treatment of electronic evidence and electronic signatures. This fifth edition continues to follow the tradition in English evidence text books by basing the text on the law of England and Wales, with appropriate citations of relevant case law and legislation from other jurisdictions. Stephen Mason (of the Middle Temple, Barrister) is a leading authority on electronic evidence and electronic signatures, having advised global corporations and governments on these topics. He is also the editor of International Electronic Evidence, and he founded the innovative international open access journal Digital Evidence and Electronic Signatures Law Review in 2004. Daniel Seng (Associate Professor, National University of Singapore) is the Director of the Centre for Technology, Robotics, AI and the Law (TRAIL). He teaches and researches information technology law and evidence law. Daniel was previously a partner and head of the technology practice at Messrs Rajah & Tann. He is also an active consultant to the World Intellectual Property Organization, where he has researched, delivered papers and published monographs on copyright exceptions for academic institutions, music copyright in the Asia Pacific and the liability of Internet intermediaries

AICPA technical practice aids as of June 1, 2009, volume 1

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