Assessing and augmenting SCADA cyber security: a survey of techniques

SCADA systems monitor and control critical infrastructures of national importance such as power generation and distribution, water supply, transportation networks, and manufacturing facilities. The pervasiveness, miniaturisations and declining costs of internet connectivity have transformed these systems from strictly isolated to highly interconnected networks. The connectivity provides immense benefits such as reliability, scalability and remote connectivity, but at the same time exposes an otherwise isolated and secure system, to global cyber security threats. This inevitable transformation to highly connected systems thus necessitates effective security safeguards to be in place as any compromise or downtime of SCADA systems can have severe economic, safety and security ramifications. One way to ensure vital asset protection is to adopt a viewpoint similar to an attacker to determine weaknesses and loopholes in defences. Such mind sets help to identify and fix potential breaches before their exploitation. This paper surveys tools and techniques to uncover SCADA system vulnerabilities. A comprehensive review of the selected approaches is provided along with their applicability

Navigating the IoT landscape: Unraveling forensics, security issues, applications, research challenges, and future

Given the exponential expansion of the internet, the possibilities of security attacks and cybercrimes have increased accordingly. However, poorly implemented security mechanisms in the Internet of Things (IoT) devices make them susceptible to cyberattacks, which can directly affect users. IoT forensics is thus needed for investigating and mitigating such attacks. While many works have examined IoT applications and challenges, only a few have focused on both the forensic and security issues in IoT. Therefore, this paper reviews forensic and security issues associated with IoT in different fields. Future prospects and challenges in IoT research and development are also highlighted. As demonstrated in the literature, most IoT devices are vulnerable to attacks due to a lack of standardized security measures. Unauthorized users could get access, compromise data, and even benefit from control of critical infrastructure. To fulfil the security-conscious needs of consumers, IoT can be used to develop a smart home system by designing a FLIP-based system that is highly scalable and adaptable. Utilizing a blockchain-based authentication mechanism with a multi-chain structure can provide additional security protection between different trust domains. Deep learning can be utilized to develop a network forensics framework with a high-performing system for detecting and tracking cyberattack incidents. Moreover, researchers should consider limiting the amount of data created and delivered when using big data to develop IoT-based smart systems. The findings of this review will stimulate academics to seek potential solutions for the identified issues, thereby advancing the IoT field.Comment: 77 pages, 5 figures, 5 table

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

Online Accumulation: Reconstruction of Worm Propagation Path

Abstract. Knowledge of the worm origin is necessary to forensic analysis, and knowledge of the initial causal flows supports diagnosis of how network defenses were breached. Fast and accurate online tracing network worm during its propagation, help to detect worm origin and the earliest infected nodes, and is essential for large-scale worm containment. This paper introduces the Accumulation Algorithm which can efficiently tracing worm origin and the initial propagation paths, and presents an improved online Accumulation Algorithm using sliding detection windows. We also analyzes and verifies their detection accuracy and containment efficacy through simulation experiments in large scale network. Results indicate that the online Accumulation Algorithm can accurately tracing worms and efficiently containing their propagation in an approximately real-time manner

Cybersecurity: Past, Present and Future

The digital transformation has created a new digital space known as cyberspace. This new cyberspace has improved the workings of businesses, organizations, governments, society as a whole, and day to day life of an individual. With these improvements come new challenges, and one of the main challenges is security. The security of the new cyberspace is called cybersecurity. Cyberspace has created new technologies and environments such as cloud computing, smart devices, IoTs, and several others. To keep pace with these advancements in cyber technologies there is a need to expand research and develop new cybersecurity methods and tools to secure these domains and environments. This book is an effort to introduce the reader to the field of cybersecurity, highlight current issues and challenges, and provide future directions to mitigate or resolve them. The main specializations of cybersecurity covered in this book are software security, hardware security, the evolution of malware, biometrics, cyber intelligence, and cyber forensics. We must learn from the past, evolve our present and improve the future. Based on this objective, the book covers the past, present, and future of these main specializations of cybersecurity. The book also examines the upcoming areas of research in cyber intelligence, such as hybrid augmented and explainable artificial intelligence (AI). Human and AI collaboration can significantly increase the performance of a cybersecurity system. Interpreting and explaining machine learning models, i.e., explainable AI is an emerging field of study and has a lot of potentials to improve the role of AI in cybersecurity.Comment: Author's copy of the book published under ISBN: 978-620-4-74421-

Empirical investigation on the barriers of adoption of cryptocurrency-based transaction from an Islamic perspective

Purpose: This paper presents a user study of “perception of the cryptocurrency-based transaction from the Islamic views”. Bitcoin is considered the special type of cryptocurrency used in this study. Users view bitcoin is as an app that provides a personal currency in a digital wallet through which transactions can occur in order to either send, receive, buy, or sell the currency (bitcoins). Information System is an enabler of this mode of transaction, unfortunately, some users raised concern about the nature of transactions with Bitcoin. Specifically, some argued that Bitcoin can be easily used for illegal purposes and that the global public already uses Bitcoin mostly for illegal and Shari’ah non-compliant purposes under Islamic views. Design/methodology/approach: This study adopted “Technological Acceptance Model” and utilized quantitative research methodology, in order to formulate and test some hypotheses that will lead to an establishment of a model. A sample of 306 participants was used in the study. Findings: The result of the hypothesis testing indicate that “Behavioral Intention to Use Cryptocurrency from the Islamic perspective” is influenced directly by Shari’ah Compliance, Perceived Ease of Use, Emotionality, Perceived Usefulness, and Financial Concern. As evident from the analysis, Emotionality is influenced directly by Financial concern and Shari’ah Compliance. Whereas, Behavioral Intention is influenced indirectly by Financial Concerns. Research limitations/implications: The sample is general and does not specify a specific group of study. Practical implications: This study has contributed to understanding the Islamic issues behind the implementation of Cryptocurrency Originality/value: The study formulates and tests a theory for cryptocurrency-based transaction from an Islamic view

Systematic review on ai-blockchain based e-healthcare records management systems

Electronic health records (EHRs) are digitally saved health records that provide information about a person's health. EHRs are generally shared among healthcare stakeholders, and thus are susceptible to power failures, data misuse, a lack of privacy, security, and an audit trail, among other problems. Blockchain, on the other hand, is a groundbreaking technology that provides a distributed and decentralized environment in which nodes in a list of networks can connect to each other without the need for a central authority. It has the potential to overcome the limits of EHR management and create a more secure, decentralized, and safer environment for exchanging EHR data. Further, blockchain is a distributed ledger on which data can be stored and shared in a cryptographically secure, validated, and mutually agreed-upon manner across all mining nodes. The blockchain stores data with a high level of integrity and robustness, and it cannot be altered. When smart contracts are used to make decisions and conduct analytics with machine-learning algorithms, the results may be trusted and unquestioned. However, Blockchain is not always indestructible and suffers from scalability and complexity issues that might render it inefficient. Combining AI and blockchain technology can handled some of the drawbacks of these two technical ecosystems effectively. AI algorithms rely on data or information to learn, analyze, and reach conclusions. The performance of AI algorithms is enhanced through the data obtained from a data repository or a reliable, secure, trustworthy, and credible platform. Researchers have identified three categories of blockchain-based potential solutions for the management of electronic health records: conceptual, prototype, and implemented. The purpose of this research work is to conduct a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) to identify and assess research articles that were either conceptual or implemented to manage EHRs using blockchain technology. The study conducts a comprehensive evaluation of the literature on blockchain technology and enhanced health record management systems utilizing artificial intelligence technologies. The study examined 189 research papers collected from various publication categories. The in-depth analysis focuses on the privacy, security, accessibility, and scalability of publications. The SLR has illustrated that blockchain technology has the potential to deliver decentralization, security, and privacy that are frequently lacking in traditional EHRs. Additionally, the outcomes of the extensive analysis inform future researchers about the type of blockchain to use in their research. Additionally, methods used in healthcare are summarized per application area while their pros and cons are highlighted. Finally, the emphasized taxonomy combines blockchain and artificial intelligence, which enables us to analyze possible blockchain and artificial intelligence applications in health records management systems. The article ends with a discussion on open issues for research and future directions

Secure Network Provenance

This paper introduces secure network provenance (SNP), a novel technique that enables networked systems to explain to their operators why they are in a certain state – e.g., why a suspicious routing table entry is present on a certain router, or where a given cache entry originated. SNP provides network forensics capabilities by permitting operators to track down faulty or misbehaving nodes, and to assess the damage such nodes may have caused to the rest of the system. SNP is designed for adversarial settings and is robust to manipulation; its tamper-evident properties ensure that operators can detect when compromised nodes lie or falsely implicate correct nodes. We also present the design of SNooPy, a general-purpose SNP system. To demonstrate that SNooPy is practical, we apply it to three example applications: the Quagga BGP daemon, a declarative implementation of Chord, and Hadoop MapReduce. Our results indicate that SNooPy can efficiently explain state in an adversarial setting, that it can be applied with minimal effort, and that its costs are low enough to be practical

A Survey on Security and Privacy of 5G Technologies: Potential Solutions, Recent Advancements, and Future Directions

Security has become the primary concern in many telecommunications industries today as risks can have high consequences. Especially, as the core and enable technologies will be associated with 5G network, the confidential information will move at all layers in future wireless systems. Several incidents revealed that the hazard encountered by an infected wireless network, not only affects the security and privacy concerns, but also impedes the complex dynamics of the communications ecosystem. Consequently, the complexity and strength of security attacks have increased in the recent past making the detection or prevention of sabotage a global challenge. From the security and privacy perspectives, this paper presents a comprehensive detail on the core and enabling technologies, which are used to build the 5G security model; network softwarization security, PHY (Physical) layer security and 5G privacy concerns, among others. Additionally, the paper includes discussion on security monitoring and management of 5G networks. This paper also evaluates the related security measures and standards of core 5G technologies by resorting to different standardization bodies and provide a brief overview of 5G standardization security forces. Furthermore, the key projects of international significance, in line with the security concerns of 5G and beyond are also presented. Finally, a future directions and open challenges section has included to encourage future research.European CommissionNational Research Tomsk Polytechnic UniversityUpdate citation details during checkdate report - A

Trustworthiness as a Limitation on Network Neutrality

The policy debate over how to govern access to broadband networks has largely ignored the objective of network trustworthiness-a set of properties (including security, survivability, and safety) that guarantee expected behavior. Instead, the terms of the network access debate have focused on whether imposing a nondiscrimination or network neutrality obligation on network providers is justified by the condition of competition among last-mile providers. Rules proposed by scholars and policymakers would allow network providers to deviate from network neutrality to protect network trustworthiness, but none of these proposals has explored the implications of such exceptions for either neutrality or trustworthiness. This Article examines the relationship between network trustworthiness and network neutrality and finds that providing a trustworthiness exception is a viable way to accommodate trustworthiness within a network neutrality rule. Network providers need leeway to block or degrade traffic within their own subnets, and trustworthiness exceptions can provide them with sufficient flexibility to do so. But, the Article argues, defining the scope of a trustworthiness exception is critically important to the network neutrality rule as a whole: an unduly narrow exception could thwart innovative network defenses, while a broad exception could allow trustworthiness to become a pretext that protects a wide range of discrimination that network neutrality advocates seek to prevent. Furthermore, monitoring network providers\u27 use of a trustworthiness exception is necessary to ensure that it remains an exception, rather than becoming a rule. The Article therefore proposes that network providers be required to disclose data regarding their use of a trustworthiness exception . It also offers a general structure for managing these disclosure