Network Security Intelligence Centres for Information Security Incident Management

Programme: 6598 - Ph.D. on the Basis of Prior Published Works in Cyber SecurityIntensive IT development has led to qualitative changes in our living, which are driving current information security (IS) trends and require sophisticated structures and adequate approached to manage IS for different businesses. The wide range of threats is constantly growing in modern intranets; they have become not only numerous and diverse but more disruptive. In such circumstances, organizations realize that IS incidents’ timely detection and prevention in the future (what is more important) are not only possible but imperative. Any delay and only reactive actions to IS incidents put their assets under risk. A properly designed IS incident management system (ISIMS), operating as an integral part of the whole organization’s governance system, reduces IS incidents’ number and limits damage caused by them. To maximally automate IS incident management (ISIM) within one organization and to deepen its knowledge of IS level, this research proposes to unite together all advantages of a Security Intelligence Centre (SIC) and a Network Operations Centre (NOC) with their unique and joint toolkits and techniques in a unified Network SIC (NSIC). For this purpose the glossary of the research area was introduced, the taxonomy of IS threats, vulnerabilities, network attacks, and incidents was determined. Further, IS monitoring as one of the ISIM processes was described, the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems’ role in it and their evolution were shown. The transition from Security Operations Centres (SOCs) to SICs was followed up. At least, modern network environment’s requirements for new protection solutions were formulated and it was proven that the NSIC proposed as a combination of a SIC and a NOC fully meets them. The NSIC’s zone security infrastructure with corresponding IS controls is proposed. Its implementation description at the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute concludes the research at this stage. In addition, some proposals for the training of highly qualified personnel for NSICs were formulated. The creation of an innovative NSIC concept, its interpretation, construction and initial implementation through original research presented are its main results. They contribute substantially to the modern networks’ security, as they extend the forefront of the SOCs and SICc used nowadays and generate significant new knowledge and understanding of network security requirements and solutions

Opportunities for Mitigating Soil Compaction in Europe-Case Studies from the SoilCare Project Using Soil-Improving Cropping Systems

Soil compaction (SC) is a major threat for agriculture in Europe that affects many ecosystem functions, such as water and air circulation in soils, root growth, and crop production. Our objective was to present the results from five short-term (25 cm) compaction using subsoiling tillage treatments to depths of 35 cm (Sweden) and 60 cm (Romania). The other SSs addressed both topsoil and subsoil SC (>25 cm, Norway and United Kingdom; >30 cm, Italy) using deep-rooted bio-drilling crops and different tillage types or a combination of both. Each SS evaluated the effectiveness of the SICSs by measuring the soil physical properties, and we calculated SC indices. The SICSs showed promising results-for example, alfalfa in Norway showed good potential for alleviating SC (the subsoil density decreased from 1.69 to 1.45 g cm(-1)) and subsoiling at the Swedish SS improved root penetration into the subsoil by about 10 cm-but the effects of SICSs on yields were generally small. These case studies also reflected difficulties in implementing SICSs, some of which are under development, and we discuss methodological issues for measuring their effectiveness. There is a need for refining these SICSs and for evaluating their longer-term effect under a wider range of pedoclimatic conditions

Physical Fault Injection and Side-Channel Attacks on Mobile Devices:A Comprehensive Analysis

Today's mobile devices contain densely packaged system-on-chips (SoCs) with multi-core, high-frequency CPUs and complex pipelines. In parallel, sophisticated SoC-assisted security mechanisms have become commonplace for protecting device data, such as trusted execution environments, full-disk and file-based encryption. Both advancements have dramatically complicated the use of conventional physical attacks, requiring the development of specialised attacks. In this survey, we consolidate recent developments in physical fault injections and side-channel attacks on modern mobile devices. In total, we comprehensively survey over 50 fault injection and side-channel attack papers published between 2009-2021. We evaluate the prevailing methods, compare existing attacks using a common set of criteria, identify several challenges and shortcomings, and suggest future directions of research

Profiling employers involved in Apprenticeship Trailblazer groups

This study is the first to analyse the representativeness of apprenticeship Standards Trailblazer groups. Trailblazers set the occupational profile, knowledge, skills and behaviours, and EPAs within apprenticeships. Standards take a long time to develop and representation on them requires a significant organisational commitment. The analysis is based on the employment size and sector of employers represented on Trailblazer groups. Whilst the remit of Trailblazers is to represent employers likely to use the apprenticeship, this study has shown that not all Trailblazer groups do. Some Trailblazers have very good sectoral representation and include all of the main sectors that employ the Standard related occupations. Some do not and exclude key sectors some of which employ up to one quarter of related occupations. However, the main limitation of Trailblazer groups is their over representation of large employers, and their under representation of medium and small employers. This happens on all (for small employers) or most (for medium employers) groups. It is not the case that small and medium sized employers are represented through other organisations. Very few of these organisations are sector or employer representative organisations. Most are training providers or professional/membership bodies. A large number of organisations are represented across all of the Trailblazers, 5,589 across the 646 Standards. We estimate that around one in ten are other organisations. Most of these are representative organisations but a similar number are training providers. This study has also shown that a number of employer and other organisations sit on a large number and wide range of Trailblazers. This in itself is not an issue. It can demonstrate the commitment of employers and other organisations to apprenticeships and workforce development. However, this needs to be monitored to ensure that Standards are representative across employers that are likely to use them. Undertaking the analysis for this study has been challenging because the data on Trailblazer representation is not organised in any way. There is no information on the sector, employment size, type and geographical spread of organisations. Nor is there any information on the sectoral and size spread of Standard related occupations that could be used to make an assessment of the representativeness of the organisations which sit on the Trailblazers. Such information should be collected as the norm for all organisations that are represented on Trailblazers. In order to assist future analysis, there should be agreement on a basic set of standardised information to be collected about organisations, so their representativeness can be assessed, along with an analysis of the employment profile of Standard related occupations

Developing a distributed electronic health-record store for India

The DIGHT project is addressing the problem of building a scalable and highly available information store for the Electronic Health Records (EHRs) of the over one billion citizens of India

The Infrastructure of the Animation Industry in the East of England between 2009 & 2011

This research investigates how the animation industry in the UK is defined. It proposes a new framework for data collection to quantify the extent of the sector, with particular focus on infrastructural requirements in the East of England. This thesis is designed to develop a potential model based on robust and methodologically sound research, that can better quantify animation and related activities from a regional perspective. It is not intended that this thesis will offer a solution to the understanding, or support requirements of the animation industry at a local level. Through developing enhanced measurement and definition, the research has the potential to affect the way that UK animation as a whole is understood, valued and supported. Based on detailed mixed method research and thorough analysis using the East of England as a case study, the thesis proposes recommendations for new approaches to data collection and classification. The application of a ‘Grounded Theory’ approach has been developed using defined procedures and sounder theories and structures for potential future policy development. Previous studies of the creative industries recognised that Norwich and the East of England were identified as centres for excellence in Animation. This view was primarily based on assumptions rather than on mapping specific business and employment data. Inadequate subject analysis resulted in the development of unsubstantiated policies and therefore placing immediate limits on their effectiveness. By studying the East of England animation industry sector in detail, using primary research as well as government-recognised data, it was possible to develop new methods for collection and definition. Through analysis of a cross section of the UK animation sector and applying original models at regional level, the research clarifies the landscape of the animation sector and proposes a new framework model to contribute to future policy development

Reduced pin-count testing, 3D SICs, time division multiplexing, test access mechanism, simultaneous bidirectional signaling

3D Stacked Integrated Circuits (SICs) offer a promising way to cope with the technology scaling; however, the test access requirements are highly complicated due to increased transistor density and a limited number of test channels. Moreover, although the vertical interconnects in 3D SIC are capable of high-speed data transfer, the overall test speed is restricted by scan-chains that are not optimized for timing. Reduced Pin-Count Testing (RPCT) has been effectively used under these scenarios. In particular, Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) allows full utilization of interconnect bandwidth while providing low scan frequencies supported by the scan chains. However, these methods rely on Uni-Directional Signaling (UDS), in which a chip terminal (pin or a TSV) can either be used to transmit or receive data at a given time. This requires that at least two chip terminals are available at every die interface (Tester-Die or Die-Die) to form a single test channel. In this paper, we propose Simultaneous Bi-Directional Signaling (SBS), which allows a chip terminal to be used simultaneously to send and receive data, thus forming a test channel using one pin instead of two. We demonstrate how SBS can be used in conjunction with TDM to achieve reduced pin count testing while using only half the number of pins compared to conventional TDM based methods, consuming only 22.6% additional power. Alternatively, the advantage could be manifested as a test time reduction by utilizing all available test channels, allowing more parallelism and test time reduction down to half compared to UDS-based TDM. Experiments using 45nm technology suggest that the proposed method can operate at up to 1.2 GHz test clock for a stack of 3-dies, whereas for higher frequencies, a binary-weighted transmitter is proposed capable of up to 2.46 GHz test clock