Discrete Choice, Social Interaction, and Policy in Encryption Technology Adoption

We introduce a model for examining the factors that lead to the adoption of new encryption technologies. Building on the work of Brock and Durlauf, the model describes how agents make choices, in the presence of social interaction, between competing technologies given their relative cost, functionality, and usability. We apply the model to examples about the adoption of encryption in communication (email and messaging) and storage technologies (self-encrypting drives) and also consider our model’s predictions for the evolution of technology adoption over time

On the adoption of privacy-enhancing technologies

We propose a model, based on the work of Brock and Durlauf, which looks at how agents make choices between competing technologies, as a framework for exploring aspects of the economics of the adoption of privacy-enhancing technologies. In order to formulate a model of decision-making among choices of technologies by these agents, we consider the following: context, the setting in which and the purpose for which a given technology is used; requirement, the level of privacy that the technology must provide for an agent to be willing to use the technology in a given context; belief, an agent’s perception of the level of privacy provided by a given technology in a given context; and the relative value of privacy, how much an agent cares about privacy in this context and how willing an agent is to trade off privacy for other attributes. We introduce these concepts into the model, admitting heterogeneity among agents in order to capture variations in requirement, belief, and relative value in the population. We illustrate the model with two examples: the possible effects on the adoption of iOS devices being caused by the recent Apple–FBI case; and the recent revelations about the non-deletion of images on the adoption of Snapchat

Trusted Computing and Secure Virtualization in Cloud Computing

Large-scale deployment and use of cloud computing in industry is accompanied and in the same time hampered by concerns regarding protection of data handled by cloud computing providers. One of the consequences of moving data processing and storage off company premises is that organizations have less control over their infrastructure. As a result, cloud service (CS) clients must trust that the CS provider is able to protect their data and infrastructure from both external and internal attacks. Currently however, such trust can only rely on organizational processes declared by the CS provider and can not be remotely verified and validated by an external party. Enabling the CS client to verify the integrity of the host where the virtual machine instance will run, as well as to ensure that the virtual machine image has not been tampered with, are some steps towards building trust in the CS provider. Having the tools to perform such verifications prior to the launch of the VM instance allows the CS clients to decide in runtime whether certain data should be stored- or calculations should be made on the VM instance offered by the CS provider. This thesis combines three components -- trusted computing, virtualization technology and cloud computing platforms -- to address issues of trust and security in public cloud computing environments. Of the three components, virtualization technology has had the longest evolution and is a cornerstone for the realization of cloud computing. Trusted computing is a recent industry initiative that aims to implement the root of trust in a hardware component, the trusted platform module. The initiative has been formalized in a set of specifications and is currently at version 1.2. Cloud computing platforms pool virtualized computing, storage and network resources in order to serve a large number of customers customers that use a multi-tenant multiplexing model to offer on-demand self-service over broad network. Open source cloud computing platforms are, similar to trusted computing, a fairly recent technology in active development. The issue of trust in public cloud environments is addressed by examining the state of the art within cloud computing security and subsequently addressing the issues of establishing trust in the launch of a generic virtual machine in a public cloud environment. As a result, the thesis proposes a trusted launch protocol that allows CS clients to verify and ensure the integrity of the VM instance at launch time, as well as the integrity of the host where the VM instance is launched. The protocol relies on the use of Trusted Platform Module (TPM) for key generation and data protection. The TPM also plays an essential part in the integrity attestation of the VM instance host. Along with a theoretical, platform-agnostic protocol, the thesis also describes a detailed implementation design of the protocol using the OpenStack cloud computing platform. In order the verify the implementability of the proposed protocol, a prototype implementation has built using a distributed deployment of OpenStack. While the protocol covers only the trusted launch procedure using generic virtual machine images, it presents a step aimed to contribute towards the creation of a secure and trusted public cloud computing environment

Usability issues with security of electronic mail

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This thesis shows that human factors can have a large and direct impact on security, not only on the user’s satisfaction, but also on the level of security achieved in practice. The usability issues identified are also extended to include mental models and perceptions as well as traditional user interface issues. These findings were accomplished through three studies using various methodologies to best suit their aims. The research community have issued principles to better align security and usability, so it was first necessary to evaluate their effectiveness. The chosen method for achieving this was through a usability study of the most recent software specifically to use these principles. It was found that the goal of being simultaneously usable and secure was not entirely met, partially through problems identified with the software interface, but largely due to the user’s perceptions and actions whilst using the software. This makes it particularly difficult to design usable and secure software without detailed knowledge of the users attitudes and perceptions, especially if we are not to blame the user for security errors as has occurred in the past. Particular focus was given to e-mail security because it is an area in which there is a massive number of vectors for security threats, and in which it is technologically possible to negate most of these threats, yet this is not occurring. Interviews were used to gain in depth information from the user’s point of view. Data was collected from individual e-mail users from the general public, and organisations. It was found that although the literature had identified various problems with the software and process of e-mail encryption, the majority of problems identified in the interviews stemmed once again from user’s perceptions and attitudes. Use of encryption was virtually nil, although the desire to use encryption to protect privacy was strong. Remembering secure passwords was recurrently found to be problematic, so in an effort to propose a specific method of increasing their usability an empirical experiment was used to examine the memorability of passwords. Specially constructed passwords were tested for their ability to improve memorability, and therefore usability. No statistical significance in the construction patterns was found, but a memory phenomenon whereby users tend to forget their password after a specific period of non-use was discovered. The findings are discussed with reference to the fact that they all draw on a theme of responsibility to maintain good security, both from the perspective of the software developer and the end user. The term Personal Liability and General Use Evaluation (PLaGUE) is introduced to highlight the importance of considering these responsibilities and their effect on the use of security

Social Reinforcement: Cascades, Entrapment and Tipping

There are many social situations in which the actions of different agents reinforce each other. These include network effects and the threshold models used by sociologists (Granovetter, Watts) as well as Leibenstein's "bandwagon effects." We model such situations as a game with increasing differences, and show that tipping of equilibria as discussed by Schelling, cascading and Dixit's results on clubs with entrapment are natural consequences of this mutual reinforcement. If there are several equilibria, one of which Pareto dominates, then we show that the inefficient equilibria can be tipped to the efficient one, a result of interest in the context of coordination problems.

The future of Cybersecurity in Italy: Strategic focus area

This volume has been created as a continuation of the previous one, with the aim of outlining a set of focus areas and actions that the Italian Nation research community considers essential. The book touches many aspects of cyber security, ranging from the definition of the infrastructure and controls needed to organize cyberdefence to the actions and technologies to be developed to be better protected, from the identification of the main technologies to be defended to the proposal of a set of horizontal actions for training, awareness raising, and risk management

The State of the Electronic Identity Market: Technologies, Infrastructure, Services and Policies

Authenticating onto systems, connecting to mobile networks and providing identity data to access services is common ground for most EU citizens, however what is disruptive is that digital technologies fundamentally alter and upset the ways identity is managed, by people, companies and governments. Technological progress in cryptography, identity systems design, smart card design and mobile phone authentication have been developed as a convenient and reliable answer to the need for authentication. Yet, these advances ar enot sufficient to satisfy the needs across people's many spheres of activity: work, leisure, health, social activities nor have they been used to enable cross-border service implementation in the Single Digital Market, or to ensure trust in cross border eCommerce. The study findings assert that the potentially great added value of eID technologies in enabling the Digital Economy has not yet been fulfilled, and fresh efforts are needed to build identification and authentication systems that people can live with, trust and use. The study finds that usability, minimum disclosure and portability, essential features of future systems, are at the margin of the market and cross-country, cross-sector eID systems for business and public service are only in their infancy. This report joins up the dots, and provides significant exploratory evidence of the potential of eID for the Single Digital Market. A clear understanding of this market is crucial for policy action on identification and authentication, eSignature and interoperability.JRC.DDG.J.4-Information Societ

Regulating the technological actor: how governments tried to transform the technology and the market for cryptography and cryptographic services and the implications for the regulation of information and communications technologies

The formulation, adoption, and transformation of policy involves the interaction of actors as they negotiate, accept, and reject proposals. Traditional studies of policy discourse focus on social actors. By studying cryptography policy discourses, I argue that considering both social and technological actors in detail enriches our understanding of policy discourse. The case-based research looks at the various cryptography policy strategies employed by the governments of the United States of America and the United Kingdom. The research method is qualitative, using hermeneutics to elucidate the various actors’ interpretations. The research aims to understand policy discourse as a contest of principles involving various government actors advocating multiple regulatory mechanisms to maintain their surveillance capabilities, and the reactions of industry actors, non-governmental organisations, parliamentarians, and epistemic communities. I argue that studying socio-technological discourse helps us to understand the complex dynamics involved in regulation and regulatory change. Interests and alignments may be contingent and unstable. As a result, technologies can not be regarded as mere representations of social interests and relationships. By capturing the interpretations and articulations of social and technological actors we may attain a better understanding of the regulatory landscape for information and communications technologies