Obfuscator Synthesis for Privacy and Utility

We consider the problem of synthesizing an obfuscation policy that enforces privacy while preserving utility with formal guarantees. Specifically, we consider plants modeled as finite automata with predefined secret behaviors. A given plant generates event strings for some useful computation, but meanwhile wants to hide its secret behaviors from any outside observer. We formally capture the privacy and utility specifications using the automaton model of the plant. To enforce both specifications, we propose an obfuscation mechanism where an edit function “edits” the plant’s output in a reactive manner. We develop algorithmic procedures that synthesize a correct-by-construction edit function satisfying both privacy and utility specifications. To address the state explosion problem, we encode the synthesis algorithm symbolically using Binary Decision Diagrams. We present EdiSyn, an implementation of our algorithms, along with experimental results demonstrating its performance on illustrative examples. This is the first work, to our knowledge, to successfully synthesize controllers satisfying both privacy and utility requirements

Diversification and obfuscation techniques for software security: A systematic literature review

Context: Diversification and obfuscation are promising techniques for securing software and protecting computers from harmful malware. The goal of these techniques is not removing the security holes, but making it difficult for the attacker to exploit security vulnerabilities and perform successful attacks.Objective: There is an increasing body of research on the use of diversification and obfuscation techniques for improving software security; however, the overall view is scattered and the terminology is unstructured. Therefore, a coherent review gives a clear statement of state-of-the-art, normalizes the ongoing discussion and provides baselines for future research.Method: In this paper, systematic literature review is used as the method of the study to select the studies that discuss diversification/obfuscation techniques for improving software security. We present the process of data collection, analysis of data, and report the results.Results: As the result of the systematic search, we collected 357 articles relevant to the topic of our interest, published between the years 1993 and 2017. We studied the collected articles, analyzed the extracted data from them, presented classification of the data, and enlightened the research gaps.Conclusion: The two techniques have been extensively used for various security purposes and impeding various types of security attacks. There exist many different techniques to obfuscate/diversify programs, each of which targets different parts of the programs and is applied at different phases of software development life-cycle. Moreover, we pinpoint the research gaps in this field, for instance that there are still various execution environments that could benefit from these two techniques, including cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), and trusted computing. We also present some potential ideas on applying the techniques on the discussed environments.</p

The import of ordinary language philosophy for legal theory

The general theme of this thesis is an exploration of the relationship of Legal Theory to the general part of philosophy. Ordinary Language philosophy is uiniquely role-conscious, concerned not only with the what but with the why of philosophy; as such, it offers jurisprudence not only a contribution ab extra, but holds forth a more intimate offer in a role of philosophy which it may adopt to rehabilitate or accommodate itself within the realms of that very philosophy. This general theme is sometimes explicitly considered, but is implicit throughout the four chapters of this thesis, of v/hich the following synopses are provided, CHAPTER 1. ORDINARY LANGUAGE PHILOSOPHY The development of this modern philosophy is traced from its earliest adumbrations in the concerns of Frege and Russell with logic and language. The career of Wittgenstein, universally recognised as its most influential, if its most idiosyncratic philosopher, is tised as an ideal narrative vehicle for the chronicling of that development, and the ideal exponent of its characteristic doctrines. The ideas of the earlier and the later Wittgenstein are in turn considered with due regard paid to his methodological and substantive contributions and the extent to which these changed, endured, or interinformed throughout his philosophic development. Finally, his relationship to the generality of ordinary language philosophers, is considered by means of a comparison with Gilbert Ryle, equally a member, if less the leading light, of that movement. CHAPTER 2. ORDINARY LANGUAGE PHILOSOPHY AS APPLIED TO LEGAL THEORY To illustrate this, the writings of H.L.A. Hart are considered, firstly, to exhibit how the methods and substantive ideas of that philosophy can, almost intact, be applied within jurisprudence; secondly, it is shown, beyond this mere fact of application, that Hart's insights are not only successful applications, but are effective almost in proportion as they are exact applications of that philosophy's insights. Two major contributions by Hart, those on Ascriptive Language, and the Law as a system of rules, are subjected to an in-depth and corrective criticism,. This chapter concludes with a brief statement of the significance of the argument to date upon the relationship of legal theory to general philosophy. CHAPTER 3. ORDINARY LANGUGE PHILOSOPHY - REVIEW AND CRITICISM Here are treated several criticisms of crucial importance to this philosophy, the rebuttal of which is necessary to confirm our earlier advocation of it as the most rewarding method of philosophy. Firstly are considered criticisms made by structural linguists, that ordinary language philosophy, especially Wittgenstein's, is too much an abreaction from the errors of Logical. Positivism, and so misconceives the role of language in philosophy. Secondly, a set of criticisms, made by several philosophers, among them, phenomenologists, is considered to the effect that this philosophy has too arbitrarily and too behaviouristically excluded the "inner" or the "mental" from philosophy. Thirdly, an attempt is made to characterise, or expose the manner of conviction sought and achieved by this philosophy to vindicate it against charges of subjectivity. CHAPTER 4 JURISPRUDENCE - AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH To provide a useful comparison, Scandinavian Realism, and the writings of Olivecrona, among other realists, are examined. As a relatively modern school in jurisprudence, its development, and that of Olivecrona's thought, are traced to reveal the important formative influences, upon Olivecrona, of the theories of Petrazycky, and upon both, the broadly anti-metaphysical movement in philosophy of the early part of this century. Olivecrona's ideas are critically evaluated with reference both to ordinary language philosophy, and to other theorists of the realist school. A comparison of the Realist and the Linguistic approach, as a philosophy of law, concludes this chapter. CHAPTER 5. A SHORT EXERCISE IN JURISPRUDENCE The thesis is concluded with a brief practical example of the use of a linguistic approach as a solvent to some traditional problems of legal theory. The grammar of the legal rule is examined to provide a distinction between rule as practice and ruling as 'speech-act'; this distinction is then applied to the relationship of the courts etc. to the corpus of legal practice and behaviour in both municipal and international law, and usefully extended to provide some insights into the interrelationship of those two structures of law themselves