Secure time information in the internet key exchange protocol

Many network services and protocols can work correctly only when freshness of messages sent between participants is assured and when the protocol parties’ internal clocks are adjusted. In this paper we present a novel, secure and fast procedure which can be used to ensure data freshness and clock synchronization between two communicating parties. Next, we show how this solution can be used in other cryptographic protocols. As an example of application we apply our approach to the Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol family

Efficient, DoS-Resistant, Secure Key Exchange for Internet Protocols

We describe JFK, a new key exchange protocol, primarily designed for use in the IP Security Architecture. It is simple, efficient, and secure; we sketch a proof of the latter property. JFK also has a number of novel engineering parameters that permit a variety of trade-offs, most notably the ability to balance the need for perfect forward secrecy against susceptibility to denial-of-service attacks

SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES IN MOBILE NETWORKS, DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS

Mobile communication is playing a vital role in the daily life for the last two decades; in turn its fields gained the research attention, which led to the introduction of new technologies, services and applications. These new added facilities aimed to ease the connectivity and reachability; on the other hand, many security and privacy concerns were not taken into consideration. This opened the door for the malicious activities to threaten the deployed systems and caused vulnerabilities for users, translated in the loss of valuable data and major privacy invasions. Recently, many attempts have been carried out to handle these concerns, such as improving systems’ security and implementing different privacy enhancing mechanisms. This research addresses these problems and provides a mean to preserve privacy in particular. In this research, a detailed description and analysis of the current security and privacy situation in the deployed systems is given. As a result, the existing shortages within these systems are pointed out, to be mitigated in development. Finally a privacy preserving prototype model is proposed. This research has been conducted as an extensive literature review about the most relevant references and researches in the field, using the descriptive and evaluative research methodologies. The main security models, parameters, modules and protocols are presented, also a detailed description of privacy and its related arguments, dimensions and factors is given. The findings include that mobile networks’ security along with users are vulnerable due to the weaknesses of the key exchange procedures, the difficulties that face possession, repudiation, standardization, compatibility drawbacks and lack of configurability. It also includes the need to implement new mechanisms to protect security and preserve privacy, which include public key cryptography, HIP servers, IPSec, TLS, NAT and DTLS-SRTP. Last but not least, it shows that privacy is not absolute and it has many conflicts, also privacy requires sophisticated systems, which increase the load and cost of the system.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

An exploration of practitioner-researcher collaboration on randomized controlled trials of complex interventions

Background. The past two decades have seen great interest in the development and evaluation of complex social interventions. The randomised controlled trial (RCT) is the normative research design for these evaluations and academic-practitioner collaboration in the conduct of studies is increasingly common to maximise rigour and relevance. However, gaps remain in what is known about how collaboration can be most effective in the co-production of knowledge. Practical examples of academic-practitioner collaboration can address these knowledge gaps. Aim: To demonstrate the development of academic-practitioner collaboration in the conduct of RCTs of complex health and education interventions through practical examples spanning two decades. Methods: Insider research drew on: four of my publications; experience of working on RCTs; and wider experience, gained over 20 years, working as a health visitor. Findings and conclusions: A general trend, in studies, across time is shown of: more relevant practitioners actively involved; in increasingly varied and influential study roles; with greater capacity to contribute to the research process. Improved management of the boundary between intervention and evaluation is also demonstrated. These trends have increased the potential for a more equal and effective blend of academic and practitioner knowledge and as such the co-production of more useful research. Key practitioner voices have been missing from decision-making processes in RCTs, however, which is likely to have had a negative impact on the utility of the findings. Creative approaches to collaboration, utilising skills in interpersonal relations, awareness of context and spanning of boundaries can bring these harder to reach voices into the research process. These are skills central to health visiting practice. Although health visitors are relatively new to RCTs they are well positioned to be part of the process of conducting the rigorous and relevant RCTs that are important in the development of services, including health visiting

Unintended Consequences of Incentive Provision for Behaviour Change and Maintenance around Childbirth

Financial (positive or negative) and non-financial incentives or rewards are increasingly used in attempts to influence health behaviours. While unintended consequences of incentive provision are discussed in the literature, evidence syntheses did not identify any primary research with the aim of investigating unintended consequences of incentive interventions for lifestyle behaviour change. Our objective was to investigate perceived positive and negative unintended consequences of incentive provision for a shortlist of seven promising incentive strategies for smoking cessation in pregnancy and breastfeeding. A multi-disciplinary, mixed-methods approach included involving two service-user mother and baby groups from disadvantaged areas with experience of the target behaviours as study co-investigators. Systematic reviews informed the shortlist of incentive strategies. Qualitative semi-structured interviews and a web-based survey of health professionals asked open questions on positive and negative consequences of incentives. The participants from three UK regions were a diverse sample with and without direct experience of incentive interventions: 88 pregnant women/recent mothers/partners/family members; 53 service providers; 24 experts/decision makers and interactive discussions with 63 conference attendees. Maternity and early years health professionals (n = 497) including doctors, midwives, health visitors, public health and related staff participated in the survey. Qualitative analysis identified ethical, political, cultural, social and psychological implications of incentive delivery at population and individual levels. Four key themes emerged: how incentives can address or create inequalities; enhance or diminish intrinsic motivation and wellbeing; have a positive or negative effect on relationships with others within personal networks or health providers; and can impact on health systems and resources by raising awareness and directing service delivery, but may be detrimental to other health care areas. Financial incentives are controversial and generated emotive and oppositional responses. The planning, design and delivery of future incentive interventions should evaluate unexpected consequences to inform the evidence for effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and future implementation

Applications of Blockchain Technology in International Logistics - a Case Study

This work gives some insights about the beneficial impact that blockchain technology could have on the trust paradigm of modern supply chains, especially in the international logistics sector. The first two parts cover a non-technical but detailed description of how the Bitcoin protocol works and a deep dive on the possible applications of blockchain technology in the logistics industry. The third part is reserved for the Case Study, theorized with the help of Luxottica

Process evaluation for OptiBIRTH, a randomised controlled trial of a complex intervention designed to increase rates of vaginal birth after caesarean section

Complex interventions encompassing several interconnecting and interacting components can be challenging to evaluate. Examining the underlying trial processes while an intervention is being tested can assist in explaining why an intervention was effective (or not). This paper describes a process evaluation of a pan-European cluster randomised controlled trial, OptiBIRTH (undertaken in Ireland, Italy and Germany), that successfully used both quantitative and qualitative methods to enhance understanding of the underlying trial mechanisms and their effect on the trial outcome