Image Hash Minimization for Tamper Detection

Tamper detection using image hash is a very common problem of modern days. Several research and advancements have already been done to address this problem. However, most of the existing methods lack the accuracy of tamper detection when the tampered area is low, as well as requiring long image hashes. In this paper, we propose a novel method objectively to minimize the hash length while enhancing the performance at low tampered area.Comment: Published at the 9th International Conference on Advances in Pattern Recognition, 201

A Smart and Robust Automatic Inspection of Printed Labels Using an Image Hashing Technique

This work is focused on the development of a smart and automatic inspection system for printed labels. This is a challenging problem to solve since the collected labels are typically subjected to a variety of geometric and non-geometric distortions. Even though these distortions do not affect the content of a label, they have a substantial impact on the pixel value of the label image. Second, the faulty area may be extremely small as compared to the overall size of the labelling system. A further necessity is the ability to locate and isolate faults. To overcome this issue, a robust image hashing approach for the detection of erroneous labels has been developed. Image hashing techniques are generally used in image authentication, social event detection and image copy detection. Most of the image hashing methods are computationally extensive and also misjudge the images processed through the geometric transformation. In this paper, we present a novel idea to detect the faults in labels by incorporating image hashing along with the traditional computer vision algorithms to reduce the processing time. It is possible to apply Speeded Up Robust Features (SURF) to acquire alignment parameters so that the scheme is resistant to geometric and other distortions. The statistical mean is employed to generate the hash value. Even though this feature is quite simple, it has been found to be extremely effective in terms of computing complexity and the precision with which faults are detected, as proven by the experimental findings. Experimental results show that the proposed technique achieved an accuracy of 90.12%

Active and passive approaches for image authentication

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Establishing the digital chain of evidence in biometric systems

Traditionally, a chain of evidence or chain of custody refers to the chronological documentation, or paper trail, showing the seizure, custody, control, transfer, analysis, and disposition of evidence, physical or electronic. Whether in the criminal justice system, military applications, or natural disasters, ensuring the accuracy and integrity of such chains is of paramount importance. Intentional or unintentional alteration, tampering, or fabrication of digital evidence can lead to undesirable effects. We find despite the consequences at stake, historically, no unique protocol or standardized procedure exists for establishing such chains. Current practices rely on traditional paper trails and handwritten signatures as the foundation of chains of evidence.;Copying, fabricating or deleting electronic data is easier than ever and establishing equivalent digital chains of evidence has become both necessary and desirable. We propose to consider a chain of digital evidence as a multi-component validation problem. It ensures the security of access control, confidentiality, integrity, and non-repudiation of origin. Our framework, includes techniques from cryptography, keystroke analysis, digital watermarking, and hardware source identification. The work offers contributions to many of the fields used in the formation of the framework. Related to biometric watermarking, we provide a means for watermarking iris images without significantly impacting biometric performance. Specific to hardware fingerprinting, we establish the ability to verify the source of an image captured by biometric sensing devices such as fingerprint sensors and iris cameras. Related to keystroke dynamics, we establish that user stimulus familiarity is a driver of classification performance. Finally, example applications of the framework are demonstrated with data collected in crime scene investigations, people screening activities at port of entries, naval maritime interdiction operations, and mass fatality incident disaster responses

Resilient and Scalable Android Malware Fingerprinting and Detection

Malicious software (Malware) proliferation reaches hundreds of thousands daily. The manual analysis of such a large volume of malware is daunting and time-consuming. The diversity of targeted systems in terms of architecture and platforms compounds the challenges of Android malware detection and malware in general. This highlights the need to design and implement new scalable and robust methods, techniques, and tools to detect Android malware. In this thesis, we develop a malware fingerprinting framework to cover accurate Android malware detection and family attribution. In this context, we emphasize the following: (i) the scalability over a large malware corpus; (ii) the resiliency to common obfuscation techniques; (iii) the portability over different platforms and architectures. In the context of bulk and offline detection on the laboratory/vendor level: First, we propose an approximate fingerprinting technique for Android packaging that captures the underlying static structure of the Android apps. We also propose a malware clustering framework on top of this fingerprinting technique to perform unsupervised malware detection and grouping by building and partitioning a similarity network of malicious apps. Second, we propose an approximate fingerprinting technique for Android malware's behavior reports generated using dynamic analyses leveraging natural language processing techniques. Based on this fingerprinting technique, we propose a portable malware detection and family threat attribution framework employing supervised machine learning techniques. Third, we design an automatic framework to produce intelligence about the underlying malicious cyber-infrastructures of Android malware. We leverage graph analysis techniques to generate relevant, actionable, and granular intelligence that can be used to identify the threat effects induced by malicious Internet activity associated to Android malicious apps. In the context of the single app and online detection on the mobile device level, we further propose the following: Fourth, we design a portable and effective Android malware detection system that is suitable for deployment on mobile and resource constrained devices, using machine learning classification on raw method call sequences. Fifth, we elaborate a framework for Android malware detection that is resilient to common code obfuscation techniques and adaptive to operating systems and malware change overtime, using natural language processing and deep learning techniques. We also evaluate the portability of the proposed techniques and methods beyond Android platform malware, as follows: Sixth, we leverage the previously elaborated techniques to build a framework for cross-platform ransomware fingerprinting relying on raw hybrid features in conjunction with advanced deep learning techniques

Impact of Design Patterns on Code Quality in Blockchain-based Applications

Blockchain or Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) introduces a new computing paradigm that is viewed by experts as a disruptive and revolutionary technology. While bitcoin is the most well-known successful application of blockchain technology, many other applications and sectors could successfully utilize the power of blockchain. The potential applications of blockchain beyond finance and banking encouraged many organizations to integrate and adopt blockchain into existing or new software systems. Integrating and using any new computing paradigm is expected to affect the best practice and design principles of building software systems. Emerging blockchain-based applications require careful attention to many functional and nonfunctional requirements. One common practice in software engineering to handle potential pitfalls in software systems is using design patterns. Design patterns have been long used in software development to optimize the quality of software being developed. This research aims to determine the level of adoption of design patterns blockchain applications and their usefulness by analyzing the quality of the source code. This is achieved in a two-step process. Firstly, the quality of publicly available blockchain-based applications developed with design patterns is compared with applications without design patterns. In the next step, two versions of a blockchain-based application for cheque clearance are developed, with and without design patterns, and their quality and vulnerability to attacks are compared

Handbook of Digital Face Manipulation and Detection

This open access book provides the first comprehensive collection of studies dealing with the hot topic of digital face manipulation such as DeepFakes, Face Morphing, or Reenactment. It combines the research fields of biometrics and media forensics including contributions from academia and industry. Appealing to a broad readership, introductory chapters provide a comprehensive overview of the topic, which address readers wishing to gain a brief overview of the state-of-the-art. Subsequent chapters, which delve deeper into various research challenges, are oriented towards advanced readers. Moreover, the book provides a good starting point for young researchers as well as a reference guide pointing at further literature. Hence, the primary readership is academic institutions and industry currently involved in digital face manipulation and detection. The book could easily be used as a recommended text for courses in image processing, machine learning, media forensics, biometrics, and the general security area

A Time-Series Self-Supervised Learning Approach to Detection of Cyber-physical Attacks in Water Distribution Systems

Water Distribution System (WDS) threats have significantly grown following the Maroochyshire incident, as evidenced by proofed attacks on water premises. As a result, in addition to traditional solutions (e.g., data encryption and authentication), attack detection is being proposed in WDS to reduce disruption cases. The attack detection system must meet two critical requirements: high accuracy and near real-time detection. This drives us to propose a two-stage detection system that uses self-supervised and unsupervised algorithms to detect Cyber-Physical (CP) attacks. Stage 1 uses heuristic adaptive self-supervised algorithms to achieve near real-time decision-making and detection sensitivity of 66% utilizing Boss. Stage 2 attempts to validate the detection of attacks using an unsupervised algorithm to maintain a detection accuracy of 94% utilizing Isolation Forest. Both stages are examined against time granularity and are empirically analyzed against a variety of performance evaluation indicators. Our findings demonstrate that the algorithms in stage 1 are less favored than those in the literature, but their existence enables near real-time decision-making and detection reliability. In stage 2, the isolation Forest algorithm, in contrast, gives excellent accuracy. As a result, both stages can collaborate to maximize accuracy in a near real-time attack detection system

Backdoor Learning for NLP: Recent Advances, Challenges, and Future Research Directions

Although backdoor learning is an active research topic in the NLP domain, the literature lacks studies that systematically categorize and summarize backdoor attacks and defenses. To bridge the gap, we present a comprehensive and unifying study of backdoor learning for NLP by summarizing the literature in a systematic manner. We first present and motivate the importance of backdoor learning for building robust NLP systems. Next, we provide a thorough account of backdoor attack techniques, their applications, defenses against backdoor attacks, and various mitigation techniques to remove backdoor attacks. We then provide a detailed review and analysis of evaluation metrics, benchmark datasets, threat models, and challenges related to backdoor learning in NLP. Ultimately, our work aims to crystallize and contextualize the landscape of existing literature in backdoor learning for the text domain and motivate further research in the field. To this end, we identify troubling gaps in the literature and offer insights and ideas into open challenges and future research directions. Finally, we provide a GitHub repository with a list of backdoor learning papers that will be continuously updated at https://github.com/marwanomar1/Backdoor-Learning-for-NLP