Taming Anycast in a Wild Internet

Anycast is a popular tool for deploying global, widely available systems, including DNS infrastructure and content delivery networks (CDNs). The optimization of these networks often focuses on the deployment and management of anycast sites. However, such approaches fail to consider one of the primary configurations of a large anycast network: the set of networks that receive anycast announcements at each site (i.e., an announcement configuration). Altering these configurations, even without the deployment of additional sites, can have profound impacts on both anycast site selection and round-trip times. In this study, we explore the operation and optimization of any-cast networks through the lens of deployments that have a large number of upstream service providers. We demonstrate that these many-provider anycast networks exhibit fundamentally different properties when interacting with the Internet, having a greater number of single AS hop paths and reduced dependency on each provider, compared with few-provider networks. We further examine the impact of announcement configuration changes, demonstrating that in nearly 30% of vantage point groups, round-trip time performance can be improved by more than 25%, solely by manipulating which providers receive anycast announcements. Finally, we propose DailyCatch, an empirical measurement methodology for testing and validating announcement configuration changes, and demonstrate its ability to influence user-experienced performance on a global anycast CDN

Synergistic Activity of Fosfomycin, Ciprofloxacin, and Gentamicin Against Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms

Gram-negative (GN) rods cause about 10% periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) and represent an increasing challenge due to emergence of antimicrobial resistance. Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are among the most common cause of GN-PJI and ciprofloxacin is the first-line antibiotic. Due to emergence of fluoroquinolone resistance, we evaluated in vitro the activity of fosfomycin, ciprofloxacin, and gentamicin, alone and in combinations, against E. coli and P. aeruginosa biofilms. Conventional microbiological tests and isothermal microcalorimetry were applied to investigate the anti-biofilm activity of the selected antibiotics against standard laboratory strains as well as clinical strains isolated from patients with prosthetic joint associated infections. The biofilm susceptibility to each antibiotic varied widely among strains, while fosfomycin presented a poor anti-biofilm activity against P. aeruginosa. Synergism of two-pair antibiotic combinations was observed against different clinical strains from both species. Highest synergism was found for the fosfomycin/gentamicin combination against the biofilm of E. coli strains (75%), including a gentamicin-resistant but fosfomycin-susceptible strain, whereas the gentamicin/ciprofloxacin combination presented synergism with higher frequency against the biofilm of P. aeruginosa strains (71.4%). A hypothetical bacteriolysis effect of gentamicin could explain why combinations with this antibiotic seem to be particularly effective. Still, the underlying mechanism of the synergistic effect on biofilms is unknown. In conclusion, combinatorial antibiotic application has shown to be more effective against biofilms compared to monotherapy. Further in vivo and clinical studies are essential to define the potential treatment regimen based on our results

DDoS Hide & Seek:On the effectiveness of a booter services takedown

Booter services continue to provide popular DDoS-as-a-service platforms and enable anyone irrespective of their technical ability, to execute DDoS attacks with devastating impact. Since booters are a serious threat to Internet operations and can cause significant financial and reputational damage, they also draw the attention of law enforcement agencies and related counter activities. In this paper, we investigate booter-based DDoS attacks in the wild and the impact of an FBI takedown targeting 15 booter websites in December 2018 from the perspective of a major IXP and two ISPs. We study and compare attack properties of multiple booter services by launching Gbps-level attacks against our own infrastructure. To understand spatial and temporal trends of the DDoS traffic originating from booters we scrutinize 5 months, worth of inter-domain traffic. We observe that the takedown only leads to a temporary reduction in attack traffic. Additionally, one booter was found to quickly continue operation by using a new domain for its website

Information exposure from consumer IoT devices: a multidimensional, network-informed measurement approach

Internet of Things (IoT) devices are increasingly found in everyday homes, providing useful functionality for devices such as TVs, smart speakers, and video doorbells. Along with their benefits come potential privacy risks, since these devices can communicate information about their users to other parties over the Internet. However, understanding these risks in depth and at scale is difficult due to heterogeneity in devices' user interfaces, protocols, and functionality. In this work, we conduct a multidimensional analysis of information exposure from 81 devices located in labs in the US and UK. Through a total of 34,586 rigorous automated and manual controlled experiments, we characterize information exposure in terms of destinations of Internet traffic, whether the contents of communication are protected by encryption, what are the IoT-device interactions that can be inferred from such content, and whether there are unexpected exposures of private and/or sensitive information (e.g., video surreptitiously transmitted by a recording device). We highlight regional differences between these results, potentially due to different privacy regulations in the US and UK. Last, we compare our controlled experiments with data gathered from an in situ user study comprising 36 participants

A Preoperative Clinical Risk Score Including C-Reactive Protein Predicts Histological Tumor Characteristics and Patient Survival after Surgery for Sporadic Non-Functional Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Neoplasms:An International Multicenter Cohort Study

Background: Oncological survival after resection of pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (panNEN) is highly variable depending on various factors. Risk stratification with preoperatively available parameters could guide decision-making in multidisciplinary treatment concepts. C-reactive Protein (CRP) is linked to inferior survival in several malignancies. This study assesses CRP within a novel risk score predicting histology and outcome after surgery for sporadic non-functional panNENs. Methods: A retrospective multicenter study with national exploration and international validation. CRP and other factors associated with overall survival (OS) were evaluated by multivariable cox-regression to create a clinical risk score (CRS). Predictive values regarding OS, disease-specific survival (DSS), and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were assessed by time-dependent receiver-operating characteristics. Results: Overall, 364 patients were included. Median CRP was significantly higher in patients >60 years, G3, and large tumors. In multivariable analysis, CRP was the strongest preoperative factor for OS in both cohorts. In the combined cohort, CRP (cut-off >= 0.2 mg/dL; hazard-ratio (HR):3.87), metastases (HR:2.80), and primary tumor size >= 3.0 cm (HR:1.83) showed a significant association with OS. A CRS incorporating these variables was associated with postoperative histological grading, T category, nodal positivity, and 90-day morbidity/mortality. Time-dependent area-under-the-curve at 60 months for OS, DSS, and RFS was 69%, 77%, and 67%, respectively (all p <0.001), and the inclusion of grading further improved the predictive potential (75%, 84%, and 78%, respectively). Conclusions: CRP is a significant marker of unfavorable oncological characteristics in panNENs. The proposed internationally validated CRS predicts histological features and patient survival

Roll, Roll, Roll your Root:A Comprehensive Analysis of the First Ever DNSSEC Root KSK Rollover

The DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) add authenticity and integrity to the naming system of the Internet. Resolvers that validate information in the DNS need to know the cryptographic public key used to sign the root zone of the DNS. Eight years after its introduction and one year after the originally scheduled date, this key was replaced by ICANN for the first time in October 2018. ICANN considered this event, called a rollover, "an overwhelming success" and during the rollover they detected "no significant outages". In this paper, we independently follow the process of the rollover starting from the events that led to its postponement in 2017 until the removal of the old key in 2019. We collected data from multiple vantage points in the DNS ecosystem for the entire duration of the rollover process. Using this data, we study key events of the rollover. These events include telemetry signals that led to the rollover being postponed, a near real-time view of the actual rollover in resolvers and a significant increase in queries to the root of the DNS once the old key was revoked. Our analysis contributes significantly to identifying the causes of challenges observed during the rollover. We show that while from an end-user perspective, the roll indeed passed without major problems, there are many opportunities for improvement and important lessons to be learned from events that occurred over the entire duration of the rollover. Based on these lessons, we propose improvements to the process for future rollovers

Antibacterial Efficacy of Two Commercially Available Bacteriophage Formulations, Staphylococcal Bacteriophage and PYO Bacteriophage, Against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus: Prevention and Eradication of Biofilm Formation and Control of a Systemic Infection of Galleria mellonella Larvae

Sessile bacteria growing on surfaces are more resistant to standard antibiotics than their planktonic counterpart. Due to their antimicrobial properties, bacteriophages have re-emerged as a promising approach to treat bacterial biofilm-associated infections. Here, we evaluated the ability of two commercially available phage formulations, Staphylococcal bacteriophage (containing the monophage Sb-1) and PYO bacteriophage (a polyphage), in preventing and eradicating an in vitro biofilm of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) by isothermal microcalorimetry and high-resolution confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Moreover, to assess the potential in vivo efficacy of both phage preparations, a Galleria mellonella model of MRSA systemic infection was used. Microcalorimetry measurement showed that 107 PFU/ml (the highest tested titer) of both phage formulations were able to inhibit planktonic growth in a concentration-dependent manner. However, MRSA biofilm was eradicated only by co-incubation of 5-7 days with the highest phage titers, respectively. In the experiments of biofilm prevention, isothermal microcalorimetry revealed that the heat production was completely abolished in the presence of sub-inhibitory titers (104 PFU/ml) of phages. These data were also confirmed by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Both phage formulations increased the survival of G. mellonella larvae preventing or treating MRSA infection compared to untreated control. In conclusion, tested phage formulations are promising for preventing device colonization and killing biofilm bacteria attached on a surface. Novel strategies for direct coating and release of phages from material should be investigated

IL DISEGNO FIUMANO DELLA CONVENZIONE SULLA RESPONSABILITA’ DEGLI OPERATORI DELLE NAVI NUCLEARI: UN TARDO REQUIEM

Sixty years ago, from 20th to 26th September 1959, the Nineteenth Conference of the International Maritime Committee (Comité Maritime International) was held in Rijeka. Facing the challenges arising from contemporary plans to use nuclear power in marine transport (in particular to use nuclear reactors as a source of transport for both civil and military ships), the Conference adopted a draft of a convention that aimed to address the issue of liability of the operators of nuclear ships. The draft convention reflected the fact that liability issues arising from nuclear ships considerably differ from those issues, arising from the operation of land-based nuclear reactors. This draft convention, which became later widely known as “the Rijeka Draft” in legal literature, provided for basic liability principles that were to be applied to operators of nuclear ships. The Rijeka Draft became crucial for the later developments in the field of international nuclear law, in particular for the adoption of the Brussels Convention on the Liability of Nuclear Ships at the Eleventh Session of the Diplomatic Conference on Maritime Law in 1962. However, it also influenced the content of several other bi-lateral agreements. The 60th anniversary of the Rijeka Draft allows a good opportunity to revisit the principles provided by the draft convention as well as to revisit the impact of this draft on further development of international nuclear law.U Rijeci je pred šezdeset godina od 20. do 26. rujna 1959. održana devetnaesta konferencija Međunarodnog pomorskog odbora (Comité Maritime International). Suočavajući se s izazovima proizašlim iz korištenja nuklearne energije u pomorskom prijevozu (posebice vezano uz korištenje nuklearnih reaktora kao izvora prijevoza u putničkim i vojnim brodovima, na konferenciji je usvojen jedan nacrt, čiji je cilj bio dotaći se odgovornosti poduzetnika-brodara nuklearnih brodova. Taj je nacrt reflektirao činjenicu da se odgovornost poduzetnika-brodara nuklearnih brodova znatno razlikuje od odgovornosti koja proizlazi iz nuklearnih reaktora smještenih na čvrstom tlu. Ovaj nacrt, koji je kasnije u pravnoj literaturi postao poznat kao „Riječki nacrt”, predvidio je temeljna načela odgovornosti za poduzetnike-brodare nuklearnih brodova. Odigrao je i veliku ulogu u kasnijem razvoju međunarodnog nuklearnog prava, posebice pri usvajanju briselske Konvencije o odgovornosti poduzetnika-brodara nuklearnih brodova na jedanaestoj sjednici Diplomatske konferencije za pomorsko pravo 1962. godine. Utjecao je i na sadržaj nekih drugih bilateralnih sporazuma. Šezdeseta obljetnica Riječkog nacrta izvrsna je prilika za preispitivanje njegovih načela kao i njegovog utjecaja na daljnji razvoj međunarodnog nuklearnog prava.Die Neunzehnte Konferenz des Internationalen Seeschifffahrtsausschusses (Comité Maritime International) wurde vor sechzig Jahren vom 20. bis zum 26. September 1959 in Rijeka gehalten. Als Antwort auf die Herausforderungen bezüglich der Nuklearenergienutzung in der Seeschifffahrt (insbesondere bezüglich der Nutzung von Kernreaktoren als Transportquelle für sowohl Passagier- als auch Militärschiffe), nahm die Konferenz einen Entwurf an, mit dem Ziel, die Haftung der Betreiber von Nuklearschiffen anzusprechen. Dieser Entwurf wiederspiegelte die Tatsache, dass die Haftung, die sich aus Nuklearschiffen ergibt, sich von der mit der Betreibung von landgestützten Kernreaktoren verbundenen Haftung wesentlich unterscheidet. Dieser Entwurf, der später auch als „Rijeka-Entwurf“ in der Rechtsliteratur bekannt wurde, hat grundlegende Haftungsgrundsätze für Betreiber der Nuklearschiffe vorgesehen. Der Rijeka-Entwurf spielte eine große Rolle bei späteren Entwicklungen im Bereich des internationalen Nuklearrechtes, insbesondere bei der Annahme des Brüssel-Übereinkommens über die Haftung von Betreiber der Nuklearschiffe auf der Elften Tagung der Diplomatischen Seerechtkonferenz in 1962. Er hat aber auch den Inhalt von einigen anderen bilateralen Übereinkommen beeinflusst. Das sechszigste Jubiläum des Rijeka-Entwurfs bietet die Gelegenheit an, die Grundsätze des Entwurfs sowie auch sein Einfluss auf weitere Entwicklungen des internationalen Nuklearrechts erneut zu überprüfen.Sessant’anni fa dal 20 al 26 settembre del 1959 si tenne a Fiume la novantesima Conferenza del Comitato marittimo internazionale (Comité Maritime International). Nell’approcciarsi alle sfide derivanti dai piani contemporanei di usare l’energia nucleare nel trasporto marittimo (in particolare di usare i reattori nucleari quale fonte per il trasporto sia di navi civili, che militari), la Conferenza adottò un disegno di convenzione avente lo scopo di porre in rilievo la questione della responsabilità degli operatori di navi nucleari. Il disegno di convenzione manifestò il fatto che le questioni della responsabilità derivanti dalle navi nucleari differiscono considerevolmente rispetto a quelle questioni derivanti dalle operazioni dei reattori nucleari su terraferma. Tale disegno di convenzione, che successivamente divenne noto nella letteratura giuridica come “the Rijeka Draft”, offrì i principi fondamentali in materia di responsabilità che si sarebbero dovuti applicare agli operatori delle navi nucleari. Il “Rijeka Draft” divenne di importanza cruciale per i successivi sviluppi nel campo del diritto nucleare internazionale ed in ispecie per l’adozione della Convenzione di Bruxelles sulla responsabilità delle navi nucleari all’undicesima sessione della conferenza diplomatica sul diritto marittimo nel 1962. Ad ogni modo, esso influenzò anche il contenuto di alcuni altri accordi bilaterali. Il sessantesimo anniversario del “Rijeka Draft” offre una buona opportunità per rivisitare i principi offerti dal disegno di convenzione, come anche per rivisitare l’impatto di questo disegno sul futuro sviluppo del diritto nucleare internazionale