An Authentication Protocol for Future Sensor Networks

Authentication is one of the essential security services in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) for ensuring secure data sessions. Sensor node authentication ensures the confidentiality and validity of data collected by the sensor node, whereas user authentication guarantees that only legitimate users can access the sensor data. In a mobile WSN, sensor and user nodes move across the network and exchange data with multiple nodes, thus experiencing the authentication process multiple times. The integration of WSNs with Internet of Things (IoT) brings forth a new kind of WSN architecture along with stricter security requirements; for instance, a sensor node or a user node may need to establish multiple concurrent secure data sessions. With concurrent data sessions, the frequency of the re-authentication process increases in proportion to the number of concurrent connections, which makes the security issue even more challenging. The currently available authentication protocols were designed for the autonomous WSN and do not account for the above requirements. In this paper, we present a novel, lightweight and efficient key exchange and authentication protocol suite called the Secure Mobile Sensor Network (SMSN) Authentication Protocol. In the SMSN a mobile node goes through an initial authentication procedure and receives a re-authentication ticket from the base station. Later a mobile node can use this re-authentication ticket when establishing multiple data exchange sessions and/or when moving across the network. This scheme reduces the communication and computational complexity of the authentication process. We proved the strength of our protocol with rigorous security analysis and simulated the SMSN and previously proposed schemes in an automated protocol verifier tool. Finally, we compared the computational complexity and communication cost against well-known authentication protocols.Comment: This article is accepted for the publication in "Sensors" journal. 29 pages, 15 figure

Discourses on social software

Can computer scientists contribute to the solution of societal problems? Can logic help to model social interactions? Are there recipes for making groups with diverging preferences arrive at reasonable decisions? Why is common knowledge important for social interaction? Does the rational pursuit of individual interests put the public interest in danger, and if so, why? Discourses on Social Software sheds light on these and similar questions. This book offers the reader an ideal introduction to the exciting new field of social software. It shows in detail the many ways in which the seemingly abstract sciences of logic and computer science can be put to use to analyse and solve contemporary social problems. The unusual format of a series of discussions among a logician, a computer scientist, a philosopher and some researchers from other disciplines encourages the reader to develop his own point of view. The only requirements for reading this book are a nodding familiarity with logic, a curious mind, and a taste for spicy debate.Kunnen de computerwetenschappers bijdragen aan een oplossing van sociale problemen? Kan logica gebruikt worden om sociale interactie te modelleren? Zijn er regels op te stellen om groepen met afwijkende voorkeuren tot redelijke besluiten te laten komen? Discourses on Social Software biedt de lezer een ideale inleiding op (nog nieuwe) gebied van sociale software. Het toont in detail de vele manieren waarin de schijnbaar abstracte wetenschappen van logica en computerwetenschap aan het werk kunnen worden gezet om eigentijdse sociale problemen te analyseren en op te lossen. Door de ongebruikelijke aanpak in dit boek, namelijk door discussies tussen een logicus, een computerwetenschapper, een filosoof en onderzoekers uit andere disciplines, wordt de lezer aangemoedigd zijn eigen standpunt te ontwikkelen. De enige vereisten om dit boek te lezen zijn enige vertrouwdheid met de logica, een nieuwsgierige geest, en liefde voor een pittig debat

Facilitating the modelling and automated analysis of cryptographic protocols

Includes bibliographical references.Multi-dimensional security protocol engineering is effective for creating cryptographic protocols since it encompasses a variety of design, analysis and deployment techniques, thereby providing a higher level of confidence than individual approaches. SPEAR II, the Security Protocol Engineering and Analysis Resource n, is a protocol engineering tool built on the foundation of previous experience garnered during the SPEAR I project in 1997. The goal of the SPEAR II tool is to facilitate cryptographic protocol engineering and aid users in distilling the critical issues during an engineering session by presenting them with an appropriate level of detail and guiding them as much as possible. The SPEAR II tool currently consists of four components that have been created as part of this dissertation and integrated into one consistent and unified graphical interface: a protocol specification environment (GYPSIE), a GNY statement construction interface (Visual GNY), a Prolog-based GNY analysis engine (GYNGER) and a message rounds calculator

Clafer: Lightweight Modeling of Structure, Behaviour, and Variability

Embedded software is growing fast in size and complexity, leading to intimate mixture of complex architectures and complex control. Consequently, software specification requires modeling both structures and behaviour of systems. Unfortunately, existing languages do not integrate these aspects well, usually prioritizing one of them. It is common to develop a separate language for each of these facets. In this paper, we contribute Clafer: a small language that attempts to tackle this challenge. It combines rich structural modeling with state of the art behavioural formalisms. We are not aware of any other modeling language that seamlessly combines these facets common to system and software modeling. We show how Clafer, in a single unified syntax and semantics, allows capturing feature models (variability), component models, discrete control models (automata) and variability encompassing all these aspects. The language is built on top of first order logic with quantifiers over basic entities (for modeling structures) combined with linear temporal logic (for modeling behaviour). On top of this semantic foundation we build a simple but expressive syntax, enriched with carefully selected syntactic expansions that cover hierarchical modeling, associations, automata, scenarios, and Dwyer's property patterns. We evaluate Clafer using a power window case study, and comparing it against other notations that substantially overlap with its scope (SysML, AADL, Temporal OCL and Live Sequence Charts), discussing benefits and perils of using a single notation for the purpose

Energy Efficient Security Framework for Wireless Local Area Networks

Wireless networks are susceptible to network attacks due to their inherentvulnerabilities. The radio signal used in wireless transmission canarbitrarily propagate through walls and windows; thus a wireless networkperimeter is not exactly known. This leads them to be more vulnerable toattacks such as eavesdropping, message interception and modifications comparedto wired-line networks. Security services have been used as countermeasures toprevent such attacks, but they are used at the expense of resources that arescarce especially, where wireless devices have a very limited power budget.Hence, there is a need to provide security services that are energy efficient.In this dissertation, we propose an energy efficient security framework. Theframework aims at providing security services that take into account energyconsumption. We suggest three approaches to reduce the energy consumption ofsecurity protocols: replacement of standard security protocol primitives thatconsume high energy while maintaining the same security level, modification ofstandard security protocols appropriately, and a totally new design ofsecurity protocol where energy efficiency is the main focus. From ourobservation and study, we hypothesize that a higher level of energy savings isachievable if security services are provided in an adjustable manner. Wepropose an example tunable security or TuneSec system, which allows areasonably fine-grained security tuning to provide security services at thewireless link level in an adjustable manner.We apply the framework to several standard security protocols in wirelesslocal area networks and also evaluate their energy consumption performance.The first and second methods show improvements of up to 70% and 57% inenergy consumption compared to plain standard security protocols,respectively. The standard protocols can only offer fixed-level securityservices, and the methods applied do not change the security level. The thirdmethod shows further improvement compared to fixed-level security by reducing(about 6% to 40%) the energy consumed. This amount of energy saving can bevaried depending on the configuration and security requirements

Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity

One might think that, once we know something is computable, how efficiently it can be computed is a practical question with little further philosophical importance. In this essay, I offer a detailed case that one would be wrong. In particular, I argue that computational complexity theory---the field that studies the resources (such as time, space, and randomness) needed to solve computational problems---leads to new perspectives on the nature of mathematical knowledge, the strong AI debate, computationalism, the problem of logical omniscience, Hume's problem of induction, Goodman's grue riddle, the foundations of quantum mechanics, economic rationality, closed timelike curves, and several other topics of philosophical interest. I end by discussing aspects of complexity theory itself that could benefit from philosophical analysis.Comment: 58 pages, to appear in "Computability: G\"odel, Turing, Church, and beyond," MIT Press, 2012. Some minor clarifications and corrections; new references adde

Radio Explorations: Architectonic Studies of Electromagnetic Milieux

Radio signals keep making material, informational, political, and social connections in this world. Exploring these signals architectonically, the contributors engage with the situatedness of radio signal recordings in nature and with knowledge implied in radio communication. Rooted in experimental design and data feminism, the book presents innovative tools for navigating data by spanning media theory, information studies, and feminist new materialism. This offers an intersectional and post-disciplinary approach to computation, classification, and search that is accessible to artists, technologists, and researchers - facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration and deepening the understanding of information technologies

Transactional Scripts in Contract Stacks

Deals accomplished through software persistently residing on computer networks—sometimes called smart contracts, but better termed transactional scripts—embody a potentially revolutionary contracting innovation. Ours is the first precise account in the legal literature of how such scripts are created, and when they produce errors of legal significance.Scripts’ most celebrated use case is for transactions operating exclusively on public, permissionless, blockchains: such exchanges eliminate the need for trusted intermediaries and seem to permit parties to commit ex ante to automated performance. But public transactional scripts are costly both to develop and execute, with significant fees imposed for data storage. Worse, bugs practically can’t be eliminated. The result is that many scripts will terminate in misunderstanding, frustrated intent and failure.When code misdelivers, disappointed parties will seek legal recourse. We argue that jurists should situate scripts within other legally operative statements and disclosures, or contract stacks. Precision about the relationship between script and stack sustains a novel framework, rooted in old doctrines of interpretation, parol evidence and equity, that will help jurists compile answers to the private law problems that digitized exchange entails