Overview of the Course in “Wireless and Mobile Security”

This paper provides an overview of “Wireless and Mobile Security” course. The course offers practical study of security issues and features concerning wireless security. The program of the course effciently interleaves systematic theoretical knowledge and practical work. The theoretical part of the course includes basic information about the architecture of wireless networks, as well as available in this area to modern standards and protection mechanisms built into the equipment for wireless networks. It is also proposed an effective method for integrating a wireless network with the existing network infrastructure, taking into account all aspects of security. More than 50 percent of teaching time is devoted to practical work on the protection of wireless networks. During the course skills to work with software NetStumbler, Kismet, AirSnort, Aircrack, and other monitoring wireless and network tools will be acquired. Particular attention is paid to the use of the most common tools of audit wireless networks, both commercial, and open source. In conclusion, a comprehensive approach to wireless security will be offered for each wireless technology

Development of an M-commerce security framework

Research shows how M-Commerce has managed to find its way to previously inaccessible parts of the world as a major Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) tool for development due to widespread introduction of mobile phones in remote areas. M-Commerce has offered valuable advantages: anytime, anywhere, more personal, more location-aware, more context-aware, more age aware, always online and instant connectivity. But this is not without its problems, of which security is high on the list. The security issues span the whole M-Commerce spectrum, from the top to the bottom layer of the OSI network protocol stack, from machines to humans. This research proposes a threat-mitigation modular framework to help address the security issues lurking in M-Commerce systems being used by marginalised rural community members. The research commences with a literature survey carried out to establish security aspects related to M-Commerce and to determine requirements for a security framework. The framework classifies M-Commerce security threat-vulnerability-risks into four levels: human behaviour and mobile device interaction security, mobile device security, M-Commerce access channel security, wireless network access security. This is followed by a review of the supporting structures or related frameworks that the proposed framework could leverage to address security issues on M-Commerce systems as ICT4D initiatives. The proposed security framework based on the requirements discovered is then presented. As a proof-of-concept, a case study was undertaken at the Siyakhula Living Lab at Dwesa in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa in order to validate the components of the proposed framework. Following the application of the framework in a case study, it can be argued that the proposed security framework allows for secure transacting by marginalised users using M-Commerce initiatives. The security framework is therefore useful in addressing the identified security requirements of M-Commerce in ICT4D contexts

Towards a systematic security evaluation of the automotive Bluetooth interface

In-cabin connectivity and its enabling technologies have increased dramatically in recent years. Security was not considered an essential property, a mind-set that has shifted significantly due to the appearance of demonstrated vulnerabilities in these connected vehicles. Connectivity allows the possibility that an external attacker may compromise the security - and therefore the safety - of the vehicle. Many exploits have already been demonstrated in literature. One of the most pervasive connective technologies is Bluetooth, a short-range wireless communication technology. Security issues with this technology are well-documented, albeit in other domains. A threat intelligence study was carried out to substantiate this motivation and finds that while the general trend is towards increasing (relative) security in automotive Bluetooth implementations, there is still significant technological lag when compared to more traditional computing systems. The main contribution of this thesis is a framework for the systematic security evaluation of the automotive Bluetooth interface from a black-box perspective (as technical specifications were loose or absent). Tests were performed through both the vehicle’s native connection and through Bluetoothenabled aftermarket devices attached to the vehicle. This framework is supported through the use of attack trees and principles as outlined in the Penetration Testing Execution Standard. Furthermore, a proof-of-concept tool was developed to implement this framework in a semi-automated manner, to carry out testing on real-world vehicles. The tool also allows for severity classification of the results acquired, as outlined in the SAE J3061 Cybersecurity Guidebook for Cyber-Physical Vehicle Systems. Results of the severity classification are validated through domain expert review. Finally, how formal methods could be integrated into the framework and tool to improve confidence and rigour, and to demonstrate how future iterations of design could be improved is also explored. In conclusion, there is a need for systematic security testing, based on the findings of the threat intelligence study. The systematic evaluation and the developed tool successfully found weaknesses in both the automotive Bluetooth interface and in the vehicle itself through Bluetooth-enabled aftermarket devices. Furthermore, the results of applying this framework provide a focus for counter-measure development and could be used as evidence in a security assurance case. The systematic evaluation framework also allows for formal methods to be introduced for added rigour and confidence. Demonstrations of how this might be performed (with case studies) were presented. Future recommendations include using this framework with more test vehicles and expanding on the existing attack trees that form the heart of the evaluation. Further work on the tool chain would also be desirable. This would enable further accuracy of any testing or modelling required, and would also take automation of the entire process further

Intelligent Buildings in Smart Grids: A Survey on Security and Privacy Issues Related to Energy Management

During the last decade, the smart grid (SG) concept has started to become a reality, mainly thanks to the technical progress achieved in telecommunications, informatics and power electronics, among other domains, leading to an evolution of the traditional electrical grid into an intelligent one. Nowadays, the SG can be seen as a system of smart systems that include cyber and physical parts from different technologies that interact with each other. In this context, intelligent buildings (IBs) constitute a paradigm in which such smart systems are able to guarantee the comfort of residents while ensuring an appropriate tradeoff of energy production and consumption by means of an energy management system (EMS). These interconnected EMSs remain the objective of potential cyber-attacks, which is a major concern. Therefore, this paper conducts a survey, from a multidisciplinary point of view, of some of the main security and privacy issues related to IBs as part of the SG, including an overview of EMS, smart meters, and the main communication networks employed to connect IBs to the overall SG. Future research directions towards a security enhancement from both technical and human perspectives are also provided

Measuring and Characterizing (mis)compliance of the Android permission system

Within the Android mobile operating system, Android permissions act as a system of safeguards designed to restrict access to potentially sensitive data and privileged components. Multiple research studies indicate flaws and limitations of the Android permission system, prompting Google to implement a more regulated and fine-grained permission model. In spite of its newly-introduced complexity, misgranted permissions continue to present a significant risk to users. We present research on theoretical and practical misuse of permissions using our methodology that leverages unified permissions and call mappings. To guide the automated evaluation of permission use and compliance in Android apps, we develop PChecker, a tool that reports permissions requested by and granted to Android devices. We evaluate four versions of the Android Open Source Project code (major versions 10--13) and shed light on the prevalence of discrepancies between the official Android guidelines for permissions and their implementation in the Android platform source code. We use PChecker to analyze the permission use of 3,681 Android apps showing the common prevalence and occasional severity of non-compliance in real-world scenarios

Secure Communication in Disaster Scenarios

Während Naturkatastrophen oder terroristischer Anschläge ist die bestehende Kommunikationsinfrastruktur häufig überlastet oder fällt komplett aus. In diesen Situationen können mobile Geräte mithilfe von drahtloser ad-hoc- und unterbrechungstoleranter Vernetzung miteinander verbunden werden, um ein Notfall-Kommunikationssystem für Zivilisten und Rettungsdienste einzurichten. Falls verfügbar, kann eine Verbindung zu Cloud-Diensten im Internet eine wertvolle Hilfe im Krisen- und Katastrophenmanagement sein. Solche Kommunikationssysteme bergen jedoch ernsthafte Sicherheitsrisiken, da Angreifer versuchen könnten, vertrauliche Daten zu stehlen, gefälschte Benachrichtigungen von Notfalldiensten einzuspeisen oder Denial-of-Service (DoS) Angriffe durchzuführen. Diese Dissertation schlägt neue Ansätze zur Kommunikation in Notfallnetzen von mobilen Geräten vor, die von der Kommunikation zwischen Mobilfunkgeräten bis zu Cloud-Diensten auf Servern im Internet reichen. Durch die Nutzung dieser Ansätze werden die Sicherheit der Geräte-zu-Geräte-Kommunikation, die Sicherheit von Notfall-Apps auf mobilen Geräten und die Sicherheit von Server-Systemen für Cloud-Dienste verbessert

ENSURING SPECIFICATION COMPLIANCE, ROBUSTNESS, AND SECURITY OF WIRELESS NETWORK PROTOCOLS

Several newly emerged wireless technologies (e.g., Internet-of-Things, Bluetooth, NFC)—extensively backed by the tech industry—are being widely adopted and have resulted in a proliferation of diverse smart appliances and gadgets (e.g., smart thermostat, wearables, smartphones), which has ensuingly shaped our modern digital life. These technologies include several communication protocols that usually have stringent requirements stated in their specifications. Failing to comply with such requirements can result in incorrect behaviors, interoperability issues, or even security vulnerabilities. Moreover, lack of robustness of the protocol implementation to malicious attacks—exploiting subtle vulnerabilities in the implementation—mounted by the compromised nodes in an adversarial environment can limit the practical utility of the implementation by impairing the performance of the protocol and can even have detrimental effects on the availability of the network. Even having a compliant and robust implementation alone may not suffice in many cases because these technologies often expose new attack surfaces as well as new propagation vectors, which can be exploited by unprecedented malware and can quickly lead to an epidemic

Conception Assistée des Logiciels Sécurisés pour les Systèmes Embarqués

A vast majority of distributed embedded systems is concerned by security risks. The fact that applications may result poorly protected is partially due to methodological lacks in the engineering development process. More specifically, methodologies targeting formal verification may lack support to certain phases of the development process. Particularly, system modeling frameworks may be complex-to-use or not address security at all. Along with that, testing is not usually addressed by verification methodologies since formal verification and testing are considered as exclusive stages. Nevertheless, we believe that platform testing can be applied to ensure that properties formally verified in a model are truly endowed to the real system. Our contribution is made in the scope of a model-driven based methodology that, in particular, targets secure-by-design embedded systems. The methodology is an iterative process that pursues coverage of several engineering development phases and that relies upon existing security analysis techniques. Still in evolution, the methodology is mainly defined via a high level SysML profile named Avatar. The contribution specifically consists on extending Avatar so as to model security concerns and in formally defining a model transformation towards a verification framework. This contribution allows to conduct proofs on authenticity and confidentiality. We illustrate how a cryptographic protocol is partially secured by applying several methodology stages. In addition, it is described how Security Testing was conducted on an embedded prototype platform within the scope of an automotive project.Une vaste majorité de systèmes embarqués distribués sont concernés par des risques de sécurité. Le fait que les applications peuvent être mal protégées est partiellement à cause des manques méthodologiques dans le processus d’ingénierie de développement. Particulièrement, les méthodologies qui ciblent la vérification formelle peuvent manquer de support pour certaines étapes du processus de développement SW. Notamment, les cadres de modélisation peuvent être complexes à utiliser ou ne pas adresser la sécurité du tout. Avec cela, l’étape de tests n’est pas normalement abordée par les méthodologies de vérification formelle. Néanmoins, nous croyons que faire des tests sur la plateforme peut aider à assurer que les propriétés vérifiées dans le modèle sont véritablement préservées par le système embarqué. Notre contribution est faite dans le cadre d’une méthodologie nommée Avatar qui est basée sur les modèles et vise la sécurité dès la conception du système. La méthodologie est un processus itératif qui poursuit la couverture de plusieurs étapes du développement SW et qui s’appuie sur plusieurs techniques d’analyse de sécurité. La méthodologie compte avec un cadre de modélisation SysML. Notre contribution consiste notamment à étendre le cadre de modélisation Avatar afin d’aborder les aspects de sécurité et aussi à définir une transformation du modèle Avatar vers un cadre de vérification formel. Cette contribution permet d’effectuer preuves d’authenticité et confidentialité. Nous montrons comment un protocole cryptographique est partiellement sécurisé. Aussi, il est décrit comment les tests de sécurité ont été menés sur un prototype dans le cadre d’un projet véhiculaire