A comprehensive meta-analysis of cryptographic security mechanisms for cloud computing

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.The concept of cloud computing offers measurable computational or information resources as a service over the Internet. The major motivation behind the cloud setup is economic benefits, because it assures the reduction in expenditure for operational and infrastructural purposes. To transform it into a reality there are some impediments and hurdles which are required to be tackled, most profound of which are security, privacy and reliability issues. As the user data is revealed to the cloud, it departs the protection-sphere of the data owner. However, this brings partly new security and privacy concerns. This work focuses on these issues related to various cloud services and deployment models by spotlighting their major challenges. While the classical cryptography is an ancient discipline, modern cryptography, which has been mostly developed in the last few decades, is the subject of study which needs to be implemented so as to ensure strong security and privacy mechanisms in today’s real-world scenarios. The technological solutions, short and long term research goals of the cloud security will be described and addressed using various classical cryptographic mechanisms as well as modern ones. This work explores the new directions in cloud computing security, while highlighting the correct selection of these fundamental technologies from cryptographic point of view

Platforms for big data business models in the healthcare context

Abstract. The profitability of the business opportunity is defined by the level of owned data and its insights to the business organization. However, the existing literature has not identified how to link between different business models in the data-oriented systems. The previous research efforts focused on the technical aspects of data including data monetization, clustering, and data lifecycle. The purpose of this research is to understand how to link big data and business model thinking in the healthcare context. The main argument of this study provides a novel way to the modularity in the big data business models, which enables the system customers to control the system Studies show if there is a kind of data-oriented platform that remind patients to do certain tasks (ex. nutrition and medicine reminders) before going to doctors and nurses; the patients would like to use it. In addition, around 90% of the platform users will recommend it to other patients and so on. This pushes the operators in the healthcare industry to transform their traditional human-based data systems into a computer-to-computer system. In the data-intensive systems like the healthcare industry, the value creation is done by monetizing data between system actors to analyze the data and develop extensive knowledge about the end customer. For example, the hospitals have the right to own and anonymize the patient data to ensure the privacy and security of patient information. Then hospitals monetize the patient data with their business partner who has the technical and analytical capability to analyze data. Later, they provide the system with useful insights gained from data analytics. This is an exploratory phase of research where the qualitative case study approach is applied to examine the possibility of having a common platform for the integrated solutions in the data-oriented systems. To approach these platforms, an empirical study has been conducted over three case companies working in the healthcare context. The data were collected using semi-structured interview discussion. Similar qualitative approaches have been used in some prior studies to examine the value creation in the data-oriented systems and identify the future business models for the digital environments and IoT. This research contributes to the existing literature by identifying four main platforms for big data business models. The modular platform is done due to the lack of knowledge about the end-customer, it grants system partners the right to control over their platforms. The partnership platform guarantees the continuity of the business process, the Ecosystemic platform gives the end customer the possibility to select what they need from the overall ecosystem. The ownership platform is related to the centralized control over the data source, enabling consistency of the business process

D6.3 Policy Recommendations and Strategy Report

The European Commission aims to develop a more sustainable environment for research infrastructures ecosystem, and to ensure that the benefits and impacts are widely perceived by research communities and led to research excellence. This vision is reflected in a range of international and European documents. Recent work conducted by the OECD and the European Commission, particularly by ESFRI and e-IRG, have stated the need to make structural changes in the EU framework for research infrastructures (RIs). In line with this strategic vision, DARIAH intends to establish itself as a sustainable research infrastructure. DESIR (DARIAH ERIC Sustainability Refined) work package 6 TRUST contributes to DARIAH’s long-term sustainability by measuring acceptance and impact of DARIAH in new cross-disciplinary DARIAH communities and core groups. This was the base to define the theoretical and methodological framework that supported the research here presented. Therefore, this report focuses on the development of recommendations and strategies to support and increase confidence in DARIAH services and infrastructure, aiming at contributing to a major DESIR goal, which is to enlarge DARIAH by engaging new cross-disciplinary communities and considering their specific requirements. The proposed recommendations could set the basis for a broader debate within the DARIAH and RIs landscape on the actions to be taken at all decision levels in order to address a vision for longer-term sustainable RI. So, this report intends to be a policy document that aims at inspiring the future path of DARIAH, contributing to its sustainability and to fulfil the mission for which it was created. The recommendations stem from the analytical work developed from the contributions of multiple sources of information: an academically-driven multi-country survey (see D6.2); 33 qualitative interviews in three different countries; a workshop with DARIAH national coordinators held in Warsaw; contributions from DESIR partners who lead other work projects within the project; and DESIR Winter School “Shaping New Approaches to Data Management in Arts and Humanities”. After defining the entire set of recommendations, they were grouped according to three main strategic frameworks (sustainability, scope and DARIAH Strategic Plan) and visually displayed in a “Recommendations & Community Engagement Tool” (https://dariah.peopleware.pt), an open platform that supports DARIAH, strengthening the link with arts and humanities communities.The new DARIAH Strategic Plan for the next seven years, which will be followed by the publication of a Strategic Action Plan, represents a big opportunity to address sustainability, both as a conceptual level and in terms of organizational and operational configuration. Therefore, the main findings are summarized in seven key recommendations, linked with the strategic pillars of the recent published DARIAH Strategic Plan:1. Promote research excellence with inclusive, collaborative, bureaucracy free and community-driven approach.2. Ensure the integration of tools, services, data and resources within DARIAH community and with other Research Infrastructures (e.g. by gathering them on a platform such as the Marketplace).3. Foster a collaborative learning environment and anticipate the skills of the future through a joint strategy for education and training (e.g. DARIAH-CAMPUS).4. Establish a flexible, participatory and effective governance model with a clear and sustainable business plan.5. Strengthen DARIAH’s representation in European and International policy arena, expanding its visibility and cooperation outside EU borders.6. Broaden and extend DARIAH’s role, action and benefits towards the strengthening of scientific citizenship in Europe.7. Set up means for monitoring and bringing communities together, while respecting diversity on an institutional, scientific, disciplinary and methodological level.The work developed in the DESIR project - particularly this set of recommendations - could be a contribution to foster the implementation of guidelines and short and long-term actions to improve DARIAH’s sustainability and firmly establish it as a long-term leader and partner within arts and humanities communities

Indoor location based services challenges, requirements and usability of current solutions

Indoor Location Based Services (LBS), such as indoor navigation and tracking, still have to deal with both technical and non-technical challenges. For this reason, they have not yet found a prominent position in people’s everyday lives. Reliability and availability of indoor positioning technologies, the availability of up-to-date indoor maps, and privacy concerns associated with location data are some of the biggest challenges to their development. If these challenges were solved, or at least minimized, there would be more penetration into the user market. This paper studies the requirements of LBS applications, through a survey conducted by the authors, identifies the current challenges of indoor LBS, and reviews the available solutions that address the most important challenge, that of providing seamless indoor/outdoor positioning. The paper also looks at the potential of emerging solutions and the technologies that may help to handle this challenge

Context-Based Access for Infrequent Requests in Tanzania\u27s Health Care System

Access control is an important aspect of any information system. It is a way of ensuring that users can only access what they are authorised to and no more. This can be achieved by granting users access to resources based on pre-defined organisational and legislative rules. Although access control has been extensively studied, and as a result, a wide range of access control models, mechanisms and systems have been proposed, specific access control requirements for healthcare systems that needs to support the continuity of care in an accountable manner have not been addressed. This results in a gap between what is required by the application domain and what is actually practised, and thus access control solutions implemented for the domain become too restrictive. The continuity of care is defined as the delivery of seamless health care services to patients through integration, coordination and sharing of information between providers. This thesis, therefore, designs a context-based access control model that allows healthcare professionals to bypass access rules in an accountable manner in case of an infrequent access request involving an emergency situation. This research uses the Tanzania\u27s healthcare system as a case study domain

A Framework for Factors Influencing the Implementation of Information Assurance for e-Government in Indonesia

Electronic government (e-Government) enables outstanding improvements to be made to services for the public by the government. This is achieved through improvements to service quality and availability for which access can be given regardless of place and time. In Indonesia, the implementation of e-Government is still not extensively comprehensive and yet being optimized. To support e-Government implementation, it is essential to implement information assurance (IA). This is intended to reduce the risks to businesses in regard to information and information systems and ensuring the business continuity when incidents occur. Additionally, it is necessary to understand the practices and cultures which exist in the government agencies which are implementing IA. However, so far, there has not been any research that has focused on IA for Indonesian e-Government. Therefore, this paper researches the factors which influence the implementation of IA in Indonesia to support e-Government. A framework is proposed and consists of three categories: Indonesian Context, Implementation Management, and Organizational Management. The framework was developed through the identification of the factors from IA international standards, international publications, and various challenges. Furthermore, the framework was reviewed and confirmed by surveying practitioners, and interviewing experts in the IA, information security, and e-Government fields in various Indonesian institutions. The results were analyzed by conducting the non-parametric test. In addition, Cronbach’s alpha test was used for testing the data reliability. The results demonstrate that every proposed factor in the framework is significant

E-health and e-welfare of Finland - Check point 2015

The new e-health and e-welfare strategy in Finland aims to support the renewal of the social welfare and health care services and the active role of citizens in maintaining their own well-being. The means include the development of knowledge management and increasing the provision of online services. The overall structural changes taking place in Finnish health and social care will also influence information and communication technologies (ICT). The report provides information about the change in the services and the service system brought on by ICT over time. The report illustrates the status in 2014 as compared with the strategic outcomes and objectives set on ICT to support performance and renewal of social welfare and health care. The results are condensed from four surveys for a comprehensive view: availability and use of ICT in health care as well as in social care, usability of the systems for physicians, and citizens´ use and anticipations. These are accompanied by a review of Finnish health care system and ICT development. For the international reader, the report provides an overview of progressive nationwide activities towards better e-services in Finland