Exploiting code mobility for dynamic binary obfuscation

Software protection aims at protecting the integrity of software applications deployed on un-trusted hosts and being subject to illegal analysis. Within an un-trusted environment a possibly malicious user has complete access to system resources and tools in order to analyze and tamper with the application code. To address this research problem, we propose a novel binary obfuscation approach based on the deployment of an incomplete application whose code arrives from a trusted network entity as a flow of mobile code blocks which are arranged in memory with a different customized memory layout. This paper presents our approach to contrast reverse engineering by defeating static and dynamic analysis, and discusses its effectivenes

HIDDEN MARKOV MODELS FOR SOFTWARE PIRACY DETECTION

The unauthorized copying of software is often referred to as software piracy. Soft- ware piracy causes billions of dollars of annual losses for companies and governments worldwide. In this project, we analyze a method for detecting software piracy. A meta- morphic generator is used to create morphed copies of a base piece of software. A hidden Markov Model is trained on the opcode sequences extracted from these mor- phed copies. The trained model is then used to score suspect software to determine its similarity to the base software. A high score indicates that the suspect software may be a modified version of the base software and, therefore, further investigation is warranted. In contrast, a low score indicates that the suspect software differs sig- nificantly from the base software. We show that our approach is robust, in the sense that the base software must be extensively modified before it is not detected

A Survey on Software Protection Techniques against Various Attacks

Software security and protection plays an important role in software engineering. Considerable attempts have been made to enhance the security of the computer systems because of various available software piracy and virus attacks. Preventing attacks of software will have a huge influence on economic development. Thus, it is very vital to develop approaches that protect software from threats. There are various threats such as piracy, reverse engineering, tampering etc., exploits critical and poorly protected software. Thus, thorough threat analysis and new software protection schemes, needed to protect software from analysis and tampering attacks becomes very necessary. Various techniques are available in the literature for software protection from various attacks. This paper analyses the various techniques available in the literature for software protection. The functionalities and the characteristic features are various software protection techniques have been analyzed in this paper. The main goal of this paper is to analyze the existing software protection techniques and develop an efficient approach which would overcome the drawbacks of the existing techniques

Technologies, Methodologies and Challenges in Network Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems

This paper presents an overview of the technologies and the methodologies used in Network Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (NIDPS). Intrusion Detection and Prevention System (IDPS) technologies are differentiated by types of events that IDPSs can recognize, by types of devices that IDPSs monitor and by activity. NIDPSs monitor and analyze the streams of network packets in order to detect security incidents. The main methodology used by NIDPSs is protocol analysis. Protocol analysis requires good knowledge of the theory of the main protocols, their definition, how each protocol works

Post-thaw quality assessment of testicular fragments as a source of spermatogonial cells for surrogate production in the flatfish Solea senegalensis

Cryopreservation of germ cells would facilitate the availability of cells at any time allow ing the selection of donors and maintaining quality control for further applications such as transplan tation and germline recovery. In the present study, we analyzed the efciency of four cryopreservation protocols applied either to isolated cell suspensions or to testes fragments from Senegalese sole. In tes tes fragments, the quality of cryopreserved germ cells was analyzed in vitro in terms of cell recovery, integrity and viability, DNA integrity (fragmentation and apoptosis), and lipid peroxidation (malondialde hyde levels). Transplantation of cryopreserved germ cells was performed to check the capacity of cells to in vivo incorporate into the gonadal primordium of Senegalese sole early larval stages (6 days after hatch ing (dah), pelagic live), during metamorphosis (10 dah) and at post-metamorphic stages (16 dah and 20 dah, benthonic life). Protocols incorporating dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as a cryoprotectant showed higher number of recovered spermatogonia, especially in samples cryopreserved with L-15 + DMSO (0.39 ± 0.18 × 106 cells). Lipid peroxidation and DNA frag mentation were also signifcantly lower in this treat ment compared with other treatments. An important increase in oxidation (MDA levels) was detected in samples containing glycerol as a cryoprotectant, refected also in terms of DNA damage. Transplan tation of L-15 + DMSO cryopreserved germ cells into larvae during early metamorphosis (10 dah, 5.2 mm) showed higher incorporation of cells (27.30 ± 5.27%) than other larval stages (lower than 11%). Cryopreservation of germ cells using testes fragments frozen with L-15 + DMSO was demonstrated to be a useful technique to store Senegalese sole germline.LA/P/0101/2020info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

New South Wales Vegetation Classification and Assessment: Part 2, plant communities of the NSW South-western Slopes Bioregion and update of NSW Western Plains plant communities, Version 2 of the NSWVCA database

This third paper in the NSW Vegetation Classification and Assessment series covers the NSW South-western Slopes Bioregion of 8.192 million hectares being 10% of NSW. A total of 135 plant communities, comprising 97 new communities and 38 previously described communities, are classified. Their protected area and threat status is assessed. A full description of the 135 plant communities is provided in a 400 page report, generated from the NSWVCA database, on the CD accompanying this paper. Eucalyptus-dominated grassy or shrubby woodlands and open forests are the main types of vegetation in the bioregion. The CD also contains a read-only version of Version 2 of the NSWVCA database that includes updated information on the plant communities previously published in Version 1 of the NSWVCA covering the NSW Western Plains. Six new communities are added to the Western Plains. The vegetation classification and assessment is based on published and unpublished vegetation surveys and map unit descriptions that are listed in the NSWVCA Bibliography on the CD, expert advice and extensive field checking. Over 80% of the native vegetation in the NSW South-western Slopes Bioregion has been cleared making it the most cleared and fragmented of the 18 IBRA Bioregions in NSW. Exotic plant species dominate the ground cover outside conservation reserves, state forests, roadsides and travelling stock reserves. As of September 2008 about 1.9% of the Bioregion was in 105 protected areas and 28 of the 135 plant communities were assessed to be adequately protected in reserves. Using NSWVCA Threat Criteria, 18 plant communities were assessed as being Critically Endangered, 33 Endangered, 29 Vulnerable, 25 Near Threatened and 30 Least Concern. Current threats include over-grazing, especially during drought, exotic species dominance of the ground cover, impacts of fragmentation on species persistence and genetic diversity and impacts of lower rainfall due to climate change. To address these threats, linking and enlarging vegetation remnants through revegetation (including regenerating native ground cover) is required. Some progress is being made through re-vegetation schemes driven by the NSW 2003 Natural Resource reforms, however, more incentive funding for landholders would accelerate the re-vegetation program

Malignant melanoma of the urethra: a rare histologic subdivision of vulvar cancer with a poor prognosis

Malignant melanoma of the urethra is a rare tumour that is difficult to diagnose and treat, resulting in a poor prognosis. In this paper, we present the case of a 65-year-old woman who was referred to a gynaecologist because of a urethral mass that mimicked a caruncle. The tumour was removed by local excision, and a pathological analysis revealed a malignant melanoma. Distal urethrectomy was performed after three months with no evidence of residual tumour. There was no evidence of disease at a six-year followup. In this paper, we compare the epidemiology, treatment, staging, and prognosis of vulvar cancer in general to malignant melanoma of the vulva in particular

Population genetics of wood frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus) in a forested ridge-top wetland ecosystem

An important aspect of conservation biology is understanding how land-use changes impact biodiversity. Ridge-top wetlands are unique habitat for pond-breeding amphibians and the Daniel Boone National Forest (DBNF) contains natural forested ridge-top wetlands in close proximity to constructed wetlands intermixed across the same landscape. Genetic data can be used to address current population status, probability of persistence, and population connectivity. The objective of this study was to determine the amount and distribution of population genetic diversity of wood frogs in natural ridge-top wetlands and what factors influence this. Genetic data were analyzed for nine microsatellite DNA loci from twenty-five wood frog egg clutches at each of five randomly selected natural wetlands. Overall, genetic variation was measured by calculating observed heterozygosity (0.250-0.960), expected heterozygosity (0.270-0.913), and mean allelic richness (8.83-11.95). The results from program STRUCTURE gave support for 3 genetic clusters, and overall FST was 0.054 ± 0.022 SE among populations. Three populations exhibited signs of a recent population bottleneck event within populations. Pairwise FST and DST values were correlated, with DST indicating slightly higher population divergence. Isolation by distance was significant (P = 0.0354; R2 = 0.445), indicating that geographic distance between the wetlands was an important factor explaining genetic differentiation. Future work should focus on expanding the sampling to a larger scale and sampling both natural and constructed wetlands between the sites to understand more fully how the genetic variation is partitioned across the landscape. For example, wood frogs have been observed breeding in both constructed and natural wetlands, which may demonstrate source/sink dynamics, and predation on wood frog eggs in constructed wetlands may decrease overall wood frog genetic diversity over time