Cryptographic Approaches To Security and Privacy Issues In Pervasive Computing

Technological innovation has enabled tiny devices to participate in pervasive com- puting. Such devices are particularly vulnerable to security and privacy threats, because of their limited computing resources and relatively weak physical security. We investigate possible cryptographic solutions to security and privacy problems arising in two kinds of emerging pervasive computing networks: Personal Area Net- works (PANs) and the EPCglobal Network. A number of key management schemes have been proposed for use in PANs, but these schemes only support key management within a PAN. However, as people are increasingly equipped with multiple wireless devices, PANs are likely to be intercon- nected to share information or services. We introduce a term, iPANs, to name such interconnected PANs. We define system models and design goals for key manage- ment in iPANs, and propose a novel security initialisation scheme for use in iPANs. The proposed scheme achieves desirable security and efficiency properties by making use of the unique characteristics of PANs. The EPCglobal Network is designed to give efficiency and cost savings in and beyond the supply chain using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology; however, privacy threats affecting such networks are particularly serious. We construct a formal privacy model for RFID systems accurately reflecting adversarial threats and power. We then give brief privacy analysis for the existing privacy-enhanced RFID schemes which have received wide attention in the literature. We then construct a secure refresh-based RFID system based on re-encryption techniques, and prove its privacy using the defined privacy model. Finally, we show that the proposed scheme can greatly enhance the security and privacy of EPC tags, making the maximum use of given tag functionalities as specified in the standards

Separating Information Protection from Resource Management.

Securing information in a computer system is becoming an intractable problem. Exacerbating the situation is the current paradigm of trusting an operating system for both security and resource management. One solution to this problem is to separate the role of protecting information from managing resources. This thesis studies the design and implementation of a system architecture called Software-Privacy Preserving Platform (SP3). SP3 creates a new layer that is more privileged than the operating system and responsible for providing information secrecy to user applications. SP3 provides page-granular memory secrecy protection by augmenting memory paging and interrupt mechanisms of a computer system in such a way that physical memory pages for user applications are rendered encrypted to the operating system. The resulting SP3 system therefore provides secrecy protection for the information contained in the memory of user applications. SP3 is implemented by modifying a hypervisor, which efficiently emulates the augmented semantics of paging and interrupt mechanism introduced by SP3. The modified hypervisor employs a couple of optimization techniques to reduce the number of costly page-wide block cipher operations. In the page-frame replication technique, the hypervisor internally keeps both encrypted and decrypted images of a page and relies on shadow page table redirection to map the correct page. In the lazy synchronization technique, the needed synchronization between the replicated images of the page is deferred as long as possible so that the synchronization happens not when an image is modified, but when the other image is actually accessed. This thesis further explores the challenges and solutions in the new programming environment introduced by SP3. This thesis also presents an SP3-based digital rights-management solution that can protect both the copy-protected multimedia contents and a trusted multimedia player program without limiting the end-users' freedom. In conclusion, this thesis demonstrates the feasibility of separating information protection from resource management in systems software. This separation greatly reduces the size and complexity of the trusted part for information protection, resulting in a more resilient system that can tolerate a compromise in the operating system.Ph.D.Computer Science & EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75886/1/jisooy_1.pd

Security and Privacy in RFID Systems

This PhD thesis is concerned with authentication protocols using portable lightweight devices such as RFID tags. these devices have lately gained a significant attention for the diversity of the applications that could benefit form their features, ranging from inventory systems and building access control, to medical devices. However, the emergence of this technology has raised concerns about the possible loss of privacy carrying such tags induce in allowing tracing persons or unveiling the contents of a hidden package. this fear led to the appearance of several organizations which goal is to stop the spread of RFID tags. We take a cryptographic viewpoint on the issue and study the extent of security and privacy that RFID-based solutions can offer. In the first part of this thesis, we concentrate on analyzing two original primitives that were proposed to ensure security for RFID tags. the first one, HB#, is a dedicated authentication protocol that exclusively uses very simple arithmetic operations: bitwise AND and XOR. HB# was proven to be secure against a certain class of man-in-the-middle attacks and conjectured secure against more general ones. We show that the latter conjecture does not hold by describing a practical attack that allows an attacker to recover the tag's secret key. Moreover, we show that to be immune against our attack, HB#'s secret key size has to be increased to be more than 15 000 bits. this is an unpractical value for the considered applications. We then turn to SQUASH, a message authentication code built around a public-key encryption scheme, namely Rabin's scheme. By mounting a practical key recovery attack on the earlier version of SQUASH, we show that the security of all versions of SQUASH is unrelated to the security of Rabin encryption function. The second part of the thesis is dedicated to the privacy aspects related to the RFID technology. We first emphasize the importance of establishing a framework that correctly captures the intuition that a privacy-preserving protocol does not leak any information about its participants. For that, we show how several protocols that were supported by simple arguments, in contrast to a formal analysis, fail to ensure privacy. Namely, we target ProbIP, MARP, Auth2, YA-TRAP, YA-TRAP+, O-TRAP, RIPP-FS, and the Lim-Kwon protocol. We also illustrate the shortcomings of other privacy models such as the LBdM model. The rest of the dissertation is then dedicated to our privacy model. Contrarily to most RFID privacy models that limit privacy protection to the inability of linking the identity of two participants in two different protocol instances, we introduce a privacy model for RFID tags that proves to be the exact formalization of the intuition that a private protocol should not leak any information to the adversary. the model we introduce is a refinement of Vaudenay's one that invalidates a number of its limitations. Within these settings, we are able to show that the strongest notion of privacy, namely privacy against adversaries that have a prior knowledge of all the tags' secrets, is realizable. To instantiate an authentication protocol that achieves this level of privacy, we use plaintext-aware encryption schemes. We then extend our model to the case of mutual authentication where, in addition to a tag authenticating to the reader, the reverse operation is also required

Physical Security of Cryptographic Algorithm Implementations

This thesis deals with physical attacks on implementations of cryptographic algorithms and countermeasures against these attacks. Physical attacks exploit properties of an implementation to recover secret cryptographic keys. Particularly vulnerable to physical attacks are embedded devices. In the area of side-channel analysis, this thesis addresses attacks that exploit observations of power consumption or electromagnetic leakage of the device and target symmetric cryptographic algorithms. First, this work proposes a new combination of two well-known attacks that is more efficient than each of the attacks individually. Second, this work studies attacks exploiting leakage induced by microprocessor cache mechanism, suggesting an algorithm that can recover the secret key in the presence of uncertainties in cache event detection from side-channel acquisitions. Third, practical side-channel attacks are discovered against the AES engine of the AVR XMEGA, a recent versatile microcontroller. In the area of fault analysis, this thesis extends existing attacks against the RSA digital signature algorithm implemented with the Chinese remainder theorem to a setting where parts of the signed message are unknown to the attacker. The new attacks are applicable in particular to several widely used standards in modern smart card applications. In the area of countermeasures, this work proposes a new algorithm for random delay generation in embedded software. The new algorithm is more efficient than the previously suggested algorithms since it introduces more uncertainty for the attacker with less performance overhead. The results presented in this thesis are practically validated in experiments with general-purpose 8-bit AVR and 32-bit ARM microcontrollers that are used in many embedded devices

More Than One Way Home: An Evaluation of Australian Generation X Nurses' Intent to Remain in Nursing

Current workforce data indicate that the nursing shortage in Australia is expected to increase by 2025 since 85,000 to 110,000 nurses are required to meet national health care demands. Approximately 96,000 GenX registered nurses (born during 1965 and 1980) are currently working in various health settings and their retention forms part of a solution to the Australian nursing shortage. Experiencing similar social milestones during formative years, GenX were witnesses to sociopolitical and economic influences, giving them a unique employment profile with specific generational values. The aim of this thesis was to ascertain the factors that contribute to job satisfaction of GenX nurses and the influence of these factors on turnover intention. A multiphase mixed methods study was conducted, designed to collect data concurrently, with a sequential triangulation design performed at the end of the study. Australian GenX nurses cited positive perceptions of job satisfaction and the work environment, naming professional relationships with co-workers, managers and patients as factors of maximum satisfaction; however, they found work conditions challenging. Issues related to trust at the workplace and work– life balance were associated with turnover intention. The core value of caring remained the most meaningful influence within and outside work for GenX nurses, who acknowledged that their early experiences of caring launched them into the profession. GenX nurses reported an overwhelming intention to continue nursing and a most interesting and unexpected finding was their ability to situate nursing as similar to a ‘family at work’. To GenX nurses, nursing was another home, with a second family where values such as harmony and a sense of belonging were highly sought

A Cognitive Routing framework for Self-Organised Knowledge Defined Networks

This study investigates the applicability of machine learning methods to the routing protocols for achieving rapid convergence in self-organized knowledge-defined networks. The research explores the constituents of the Self-Organized Networking (SON) paradigm for 5G and beyond, aiming to design a routing protocol that complies with the SON requirements. Further, it also exploits a contemporary discipline called Knowledge-Defined Networking (KDN) to extend the routing capability by calculating the “Most Reliable” path than the shortest one. The research identifies the potential key areas and possible techniques to meet the objectives by surveying the state-of-the-art of the relevant fields, such as QoS aware routing, Hybrid SDN architectures, intelligent routing models, and service migration techniques. The design phase focuses primarily on the mathematical modelling of the routing problem and approaches the solution by optimizing at the structural level. The work contributes Stochastic Temporal Edge Normalization (STEN) technique which fuses link and node utilization for cost calculation; MRoute, a hybrid routing algorithm for SDN that leverages STEN to provide constant-time convergence; Most Reliable Route First (MRRF) that uses a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) to approximate route-reliability as the metric of MRRF. Additionally, the research outcomes include a cross-platform SDN Integration framework (SDN-SIM) and a secure migration technique for containerized services in a Multi-access Edge Computing environment using Distributed Ledger Technology. The research work now eyes the development of 6G standards and its compliance with Industry-5.0 for enhancing the abilities of the present outcomes in the light of Deep Reinforcement Learning and Quantum Computing

IoT Applications Computing

The evolution of emerging and innovative technologies based on Industry 4.0 concepts are transforming society and industry into a fully digitized and networked globe. Sensing, communications, and computing embedded with ambient intelligence are at the heart of the Internet of Things (IoT), the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and Industry 4.0 technologies with expanding applications in manufacturing, transportation, health, building automation, agriculture, and the environment. It is expected that the emerging technology clusters of ambient intelligence computing will not only transform modern industry but also advance societal health and wellness, as well as and make the environment more sustainable. This book uses an interdisciplinary approach to explain the complex issue of scientific and technological innovations largely based on intelligent computing

A business model framework for the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging technology with research interests transcending disciplines of computer sciences and computer engineering to agriculture, business management, civil engineering, architecture, medical sciences, social science etc. This is because of the potential expanding range of its application areas of wind mill operation and irrigation control, supply chain and logistics, manufacturing, home and office environment, healthcare, social care, etc. As it is usually the case with emerging technologies, IoT is faced with the challenge of bridging the gap between the technology development and corresponding business model design. Without a workable business model, the IoT paradigm may end up in research labs and subsequently fade away. A business model should show how lucrative it is to be in the IoT business by adding value to the customer and generating revenue for the business firm. This research is a contribution towards the goal of developing a business model for IoT, with customer/user value potential as the focal point. The comprehensive literature review carried out during this research (i) outlines the concept of business models; (ii) investigates through desk research, existing digital technology business models with focus on two (2) established digital technology firms and identified five generic components of their business models including but not limited to subscription, training, price, satisfaction, and trust, which were used for the primary investigation; (iii) investigates the IoT state-of-the-arts by elaborating on the IoT space and precursor technologies that are part of its ecosystem with the aim of describing, illustrating and developing application prototypes for three IoT scenarios of health monitoring, the use of the library and borrowing of books (a novel idea), and home environment; (iv) evaluates business model framework representation maps in current use, and specifically modified the general structure, content, and performance framework map to design an adoption framework map called a customer-focused business model framework map for IoT (CBMF4IoT). The unique approach to business model research involved conducting a user-led experiment to investigate the likelihood of IoT adoption of existing digital technology business models, as the customer value potential aspect of a business model design was the focal point of this research. Specifically, the experiment was aimed at determining if there was any significant differences in user inclinations towards the five generic components of existing digital technology business models based on smartphone context and IoT products context in a within-subjects design, with sample population drawn from University of Sussex community. The experimental design relied on participants' past experiences with smartphone for them to indicate their pre-purchase inclinations towards the five generics components. For the IoT products context, descriptions and diagrammatic illustration of the three IoT scenarios with their corresponding Just-in-Mind clickable prototypes served as educational tools to enable participants to be acquainted with IoT in order for them to indicate their potential pre-purchase inclinations towards the five generic components. A unique procedure for business model adoption likelihood was designed using the Sign test for high, low, and medium likelihood of adoption. The results of this test indicate medium likelihood of adoption for three of the generic components and low likelihood of adoption for two of the generic components. The results of this test was then fed to the CBMF4IoT. This thesis demonstrates that reusability of successful digital technology business models could potentially result in market success for an emerging digital technology in a B2C context, as users opinion formed the bases for the conclusions, instead of the conventional opinion gathering from only experts, business owners, and practitioners for a BM research

Usability analysis of contending electronic health record systems

In this paper, we report measured usability of two leading EHR systems during procurement. A total of 18 users participated in paired-usability testing of three scenarios: ordering and managing medications by an outpatient physician, medicine administration by an inpatient nurse and scheduling of appointments by nursing staff. Data for audio, screen capture, satisfaction rating, task success and errors made was collected during testing. We found a clear difference between the systems for percentage of successfully completed tasks, two different satisfaction measures and perceived learnability when looking at the results over all scenarios. We conclude that usability should be evaluated during procurement and the difference in usability between systems could be revealed even with fewer measures than were used in our study. © 2019 American Psychological Association Inc. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe