Artificial intelligence in the cyber domain: Offense and defense

Artificial intelligence techniques have grown rapidly in recent years, and their applications in practice can be seen in many fields, ranging from facial recognition to image analysis. In the cybersecurity domain, AI-based techniques can provide better cyber defense tools and help adversaries improve methods of attack. However, malicious actors are aware of the new prospects too and will probably attempt to use them for nefarious purposes. This survey paper aims at providing an overview of how artificial intelligence can be used in the context of cybersecurity in both offense and defense.Web of Science123art. no. 41

The impact of malaria among the poor and vulnerable : the role of livelihoods and coping strategies in rural Kenya

Includes bibliographical references.The thesis set out to explore how households cope with the costs of malaria and the implications of malaria cost burdens for household livelihoods and vulnerability. It uses a conceptual framework that takes a holistic approach to understand vulnerability and the link between malaria and livelihood change. In order to investigate these issues, the study was designed to meet five main objectives: to improve the understanding on the economic burden of malaria; to identify factors that make households vulnerable to the costs of malaria; to identify and explore coping strategies; to understand the role of health care providers in aggravating cost burdens and; to inform policy debates on how to improve access to effective malaria treatment and protect households from high illness costs

Moving from a "human-as-problem" to a "human-as-solution" cybersecurity mindset

Cybersecurity has gained prominence, with a number of widely publicised security incidents, hacking attacks and data breaches reaching the news over the last few years. The escalation in the numbers of cyber incidents shows no sign of abating, and it seems appropriate to take a look at the way cybersecurity is conceptualised and to consider whether there is a need for a mindset change.To consider this question, we applied a "problematization" approach to assess current conceptualisations of the cybersecurity problem by government, industry and hackers. Our analysis revealed that individual human actors, in a variety of roles, are generally considered to be "a problem". We also discovered that deployed solutions primarily focus on preventing adverse events by building resistance: i.e. implementing new security layers and policies that control humans and constrain their problematic behaviours. In essence, this treats all humans in the system as if they might well be malicious actors, and the solutions are designed to prevent their ill-advised behaviours. Given the continuing incidences of data breaches and successful hacks, it seems wise to rethink the status quo approach, which we refer to as "Cybersecurity, Currently". In particular, we suggest that there is a need to reconsider the core assumptions and characterisations of the well-intentioned human's role in the cybersecurity socio-technical system. Treating everyone as a problem does not seem to work, given the current cyber security landscape.Benefiting from research in other fields, we propose a new mindset i.e. "Cybersecurity, Differently". This approach rests on recognition of the fact that the problem is actually the high complexity, interconnectedness and emergent qualities of socio-technical systems. The "differently" mindset acknowledges the well-intentioned human's ability to be an important contributor to organisational cybersecurity, as well as their potential to be "part of the solution" rather than "the problem". In essence, this new approach initially treats all humans in the system as if they are well-intentioned. The focus is on enhancing factors that contribute to positive outcomes and resilience. We conclude by proposing a set of key principles and, with the help of a prototypical fictional organisation, consider how this mindset could enhance and improve cybersecurity across the socio-technical system

Building up on SIDAN: improved and new invariants for a software hardening Frama-C plugin

We present improvements made on SIDAN, an intrusion detection system working at the software level. The operating principle of SIDAN consists in statically computing invariant properties of the targeted programs and in generating an instrumentation to check those properties at runtime, in order to detect attacks. More precisely, it focuses on invariants involving the values of variables of the program. It checks these invariants when calling functions. We present improvements on the existing invariants used by SIDAN and propose new invariants as well. We also describe how these have been implemented in SIDAN by using the Frama-C framework, and how they could improve its attack detection capabilities

How to Improve the Security Skills of Mobile App Developers:An Analysis of Expert Knowledge

Much of the world relies heavily on apps. Increasingly those apps handle sensitive information: controlling our financial transactions, enabling our personal communication and holding intimate details of our lives. So the security of those apps is becoming increasingly vital. Yet research shows that those apps contain frequent security and privacy problems; and that almost all of these issues could have been avoided had the developers had sufficient motivation, support and knowledge. This lack of developer knowledge and support is widely perceived as a major threat. We therefore investigated the skills, approach and motivation required for developers. We conducted a Constructivist Grounded Theory study, involving face-to-face interviews with a dozen experts whose cumulative experience totalled over 100 years of secure app development, to develop theory on secure development techniques. The study identified that the subdiscipline of app development security is still at an early stage, and found surprising discrepancies between current industry understanding and the experts’ recommendations. In particular it found that a secure development process tends not to appeal to app developers; and that the approach of identifying common types of security problems is too limited to give an effective security solution. Instead we identified a set of successful techniques we call ‘Dialectical Security’, where ‘dialectic’ means learning by questioning. These techniques use dialogue with a range of counterparties to achieve app security in an effective and economical way. The security increase comes from continued dialog, not passive learning. The novel contribution of our work is to provide: A grounded theory of secure app development that challenges conventional processes and checklists, and A shift in perspective from process to dialectic. Only by working to develop the Dialectical Security skills of app developers shall we begin to see the kinds of secure apps we need to combat crime and privacy invasions

Installment 2 of "Creating a Sustainable Food Future": Reducing Food Loss and Waste

Approximately one out of every four calories grown to feed people is not ultimately consumed by humans. Food is lost and wasted to a varying extent across the globe, across all stages of the food value chain, and across all types of food. As a result, overall global food availability is lower than it would be otherwise, negatively affecting food security and requiring the planet's agriculture system to produce additional food to compensate for the food that is not ultimately consumed by people. The potential benefits of reducing food loss and waste are large. As a strategy for closing the food gap between food available today and food needed in 2050 to adequately feed the planet's projected 9.3 billion people, reducing food loss and waste satisfies each of the development and environmental criteria we introduced in the first installment of the Creating a Sustainable Food Future series. While increasing food availability, reducing food loss and waste can alleviate poverty and provide gender benefits while reducing pressure on ecosystems, climate, and water. Reducing food loss and waste may be one of those rare multiple "win-win" strategies.How can the world go about reducing food loss and waste on a large scale? This installment of the forthcoming "World Resources Report Creating a Sustainable Food Future" addresses that question. This working paper, which will feed into that report, begins by clarifying definitions of food loss and waste, then quantifies the scale of the problem and explores the impact addressing the problem could have on the food gap. The paper then focuses on practical solutions for reducing food loss and waste and presents case studies of successful initiatives. It concludes by offering recommendations for how to scale up reductions in food loss and waste

Volunteering for Wellbeing: Improving Access and Social Inclusion by Increasing the Diversity of Museum Volunteer Training for Public-facing Roles

This article reports outcomes from a 15-month (2018-19) study led by UCL on behalf of the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance in partnership with three London museums of differing sizes with natural or local history collections. The study aimed to address mental health inequalities by diversifying volunteer populations through reforming recruitment procedures to overcome perceived barriers, and enriching training programmes to improve wellbeing. A mixed methods approach was used to assess wellbeing and mechanisms by which key benefits were derived, such as social interaction and forming connections. The article considers how increasing the diversity of volunteer training in museums can improve wellbeing, widen access and promote social inclusion. Policy and practice implications are discussed in relation to embedding wellbeing training strategies into heritage organizations

Fisheries and Aquaculture and Their Potential Roles in Development: An Assessment of the Current Evidence

Commissioned by the International Sustainability Unity, this report investigates a number of innovative solutions that have been developed to deal with five key challenges that are impeding progress in achieving sustainable fisheries: overcapacity; perverse subsidies; poor governance; lack of data; and by-catch and discards. These key challenges are interlinked and affect the sustainability of fisheries both directly as well as indirectly by undermining instances of good management. Through 22 case studies demonstrating good practice, we explore how these challenges have been addressed around the world and how these approaches might be scaled up and applied in other fisheries. Each case study draws on published material and interviews with key people involved in the fishery. The main report draws lessons from these case studies

Who Will Let the Good Times Roll? A National Survey on Jobs, the Economy, and the Race for President

This survey and report contains the views and perceptions of American workers regarding the views of the Presidential candidates in the year 2000 on economic and job issues. Workers rate the Presidential candidates on a range of topics