Identifying and Preventing Large-scale Internet Abuse

The widespread access to the Internet and the ubiquity of web-based services make it easy to communicate and interact globally. Unfortunately, the software and protocols implementing the functionality of these services are often vulnerable to attacks. In turn, an attacker can exploit them to compromise, take over, and abuse the services for her own nefarious purposes. In this dissertation, we aim to better understand such attacks, and we develop methods and algorithms to detect and prevent them, which we evaluate on large-scale datasets.First, we detail Meerkat, a system to detect a visible way in which websites are being compromised, namely website defacements. They can inflict significant harm on the websites’ operators through the loss of sales, the loss in reputation, or because of legal ramifications. Meerkat requires no prior knowledge about the websites’ content or their structure, but only the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) at which they can be reached. By design, Meerkat mimics how a human analyst decides if a website was defaced when viewing it in a browser, by using computer vision techniques. Thus, it tackles the problem of detecting website defacements through their attention-seeking nature, their goal and purpose, rather than code or data artifacts that they might exhibit. In turn, it is much harder for an attacker to evade our system, as she needs to change her modus operandi. When Meerkat detects a website as defaced, the website can automatically be put into maintenance mode or restored to a known good state.An attacker, however, is not limited to abuse a compromised website in a way that is visible to the website’s visitors. Instead, she can misuse the website to infect its visitors with malicious software (malware). Although malware is well studied, identifying malicious websites remains a major challenge in today’s Internet. Second, we introduce Delta, a novel, purely static analysis approach that extracts change-related features between two versions of the same website, uses machine learning to derive a model of website changes, detects if an introduced change was malicious or benign, identifies the underlying infection vector based on clustering, and generates an identifying signature. Furthermore, due to the way Delta clusters campaigns, it can uncover infection campaigns that leverage specific vulnerable applications as a distribution channel, and it can greatly reduce the human labor necessary to uncover the application responsible for a service’s compromise.Third, we investigate the practicality and impact of domain takeover attacks, which an attacker can similarly abuse to spread misinformation or malware, and we present a defense on how such takeover attacks can be rendered toothless. Specifically, the new elasticity of Internet resources, in particular Internet protocol (IP) addresses in the context of Infrastructure-as-a-Service cloud service providers, combined with previously made protocol assumptions can lead to security issues. In Cloud Strife, we show that this dynamic component paired with recent developments in trust-based ecosystems (e.g., Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificates) creates so far unknown attack vectors. For example, a substantial number of stale domain name system (DNS) records points to readily available IP addresses in clouds, yet, they are still actively attempted to be accessed. Often, these records belong to discontinued services that were previously hosted in the cloud. We demonstrate that it is practical, and time and cost-efficient for attackers to allocate the IP addresses to which stale DNS records point. Further considering the ubiquity of domain validation in trust ecosystems, an attacker can impersonate the service by obtaining and using a valid certificate that is trusted by all major operating systems and browsers, which severely increases the attackers’ capabilities. The attacker can then also exploit residual trust in the domain name for phishing, receiving and sending emails, or possibly distributing code to clients that load remote code from the domain (e.g., loading of native code by mobile apps, or JavaScript libraries by websites). To prevent such attacks, we introduce a new authentication method for trust-based domain validation that mitigates staleness issues without incurring additional certificate requester effort by incorporating existing trust into the validation process.Finally, the analyses of Delta, Meerkat, and Cloud Strife have made use of large-scale measurements to assess our approaches’ impact and viability. Indeed, security research in general has made extensive use of exhaustive Internet-wide scans over the recent years, as they can provide significant insights into the state of security of the Internet (e.g., if classes of devices are behaving maliciously, or if they might be insecure and could turn malicious in an instant). However, the address space of the Internet’s core addressing protocol (Internet Protocol version 4; IPv4) is exhausted, and a migration to its successor (Internet Protocol version 6; IPv6), the only accepted long-term solution, is inevitable. In turn, to better understand the security of devices connected to the Internet, in particular Internet of Things devices, it is imperative to include IPv6 addresses in security evaluations and scans. Unfortunately, it is practically infeasible to iterate through the entire IPv6 address space, as it is 296 times larger than the IPv4 address space. Without enumerating hosts prior to scanning, we will be unable to retain visibility into the overall security of Internet-connected devices in the future, and we will be unable to detect and prevent their abuse or compromise. To mitigate this blind spot, we introduce a novel technique to enumerate part of the IPv6 address space by walking DNSSEC-signed IPv6 reverse zones. We show (i) that enumerating active IPv6 hosts is practical without a preferential network position contrary to common belief, (ii) that the security of active IPv6 hosts is currently still lagging behind the security state of IPv4 hosts, and (iii) that unintended default IPv6 connectivity is a major security issue

Architectural Lessons of Carlo Lodoli (1690-1761): Indole of Material and of Self

Carlo Lodoli (1690-1761) exists as a footnote in most major history books of modern architecture. He is typically noted for either his influence on the Venetian Neoclassical tradition or as an early prophet to some sort of functionalism. Though I would not argue his influence, I doubt his role in the development of a structurally determined functionalism. The issue of influence is always present as very little of his writings have survived and his built work amounts to a few windowsills. He did, however, teach architecture. I propose to explore the pedagogic potential of Lodoli’s lessons of architecture. Lodoli’s teaching approach was not necessarily professional in that he did not instruct his students in the methods of drawing or construction techniques. Rather, his approach was dialogical. The topics were sweeping, often ethical, and ranged from the nature of truth to the nature of materials. Existing scholarship pertaining to Lodoli most often focuses upon his students’ production of texts, projects, and projections. Andrea Memmo’s Elementi dell’Architettura Lodoliana (1786, 1833) and Francesco Algarotti’s Saggio sopra l’architettura (1756) are both specifically named by the respective authors as advancing Lodoli’s architectural theories. Often overlooked are the apologues, or fables, used by Lodoli in lessons to his students. The main source for these fables is the Apologhi Immaginati (1787). Others were included in Memmo’s Elementi. Apologues from both sources have been translated for the first time into English and can be found in Appendix I of the dissertation. I look specifically to these stories to understand and illustrate Lodoli’s approach to making, teaching and thinking. This is understood through Lodoli’s characterisation of the identity of materials and of the self. Within this dissertation I intend to flesh out the textual and architectural fabric surrounding the pedagogic activities of the Venetian Friar known as the Socrates of Architecture, Carlo Lodoli

Identity in Flux: The Mafia, Antimafia, and Sicily’s Discovery of New Italian Unity

In discussions about Sicily, one often hears how culturally different the region is from the rest of Italy. “We’re not Italian,” Sicilians love to say. “We’re Sicilian.” Indeed, the island has its own government, its own dialect, and, many say, its own mentality. It also has the aspect for which it is perhaps best known: its mafia, Cosa Nostra. That the Sicilian mafia has a tremendous impact on island life has long been established. Through extortion, political corruption and murder, the deeply rooted criminal organization has written its presence in bold. The strong antimafia sentiment that has developed in response to it, however, has only recently been acknowledged for the immense cultural and social impact it has begun to have. Only in the past few decades, to be sure, has the antimafia matured into an organized, nationwide movement based on solid understandings of mafia methods and structure. With increasing influence unlike anything known until recent years, the movement has made significant defeats against the mafia and the broad public resignation that allows it to flourish, instilling the important notion that criminality must no longer be passively accepted. With few exceptions, past antimafia scholarship has focused only on what the movement has done – its individual accomplishments and myriad setbacks – without recognizing what it is doing. Such a narrow focus, that is to say, has excluded wider discourse on the effect Cosa Nostra and the antimafia are having on broader national unity. This thesis sets out, therefore, to provide a new, deeper examination of the mafia and antimafia’s dialectical interplay, and the increasingly significant impact that the latter is having on the cultural and ideological connection between Sicily and the rest of Italy. Through an analysis of personal interviews, newspaper and journal articles, anthropological studies, political essays and films, it reviews Sicily’s historical relationship with the mainland and considers the fundamentals of Cosa Nostra operations and control. It expounds the significance of important antimafia prosecutions in the 1980s and 1990s, and illustrates their impact in sparking a more potent antimafia movement nationwide. Finally, it looks at the movement’s successes and failures across Italy, especially in recent months and years, and demonstrates how the spread of antimafia sentiment has allowed for a new, gradual national unity that early attempts at forced assimilation were never able to provide. Cosa Nostra, it concludes, has colored the lens through which Sicilian culture is considered, and the antimafia movement born in response is emblematic of increasingly apparent common national values

The development of the Roman carnival over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

The purpose of this thesis is to give a description of the main features of the carnival in Rome over a period of time from the late seventeenth century to the late nineteenth century, the last two hundred years of its effective existence. To appreciate the form of the festival over this period, which in its essential characteristics remained basically unchanged, something must be said about the earlier centuries, where there were notable differences and emphases. The final form of the carnival was established in the second half of the seventeenth century. Given the time-scale and the number of factors involved, a thematic rather than a chronological sequence has been followed in order to establish in which ways the earlier carnival differed from the later. Chapter One is devoted to the earlier years. There is a serious lack of documentation for the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods, especially in relation to the enjoyment of the ordinary people. Most refernces to the occasion tend to concentrate on the more aristocratic manifestations, or on the official and more organized events. In the Middle Ages and for much of the sixteenth century the carnival held a position of importance in the civic calendar of Rome, in the form of the Games of Agone and Testaccio. They were organized by the S.P.Q.R., the city magistrates and the `Rioni'. With the progressive establishment of Papal power from the mid fifteenth century, and the choice of the via Lata for the main events, the importance of the people's games declined (the games of Testaccio dying out some time in the early seventeenth century) and this reflected the gradual decline of the people's power. With the increasing power of the Papacy and the new Papal aristocracy in the seventeenth century, a process of control, reform and refinement of the carnival took place - political control, moral reform under the impetus of the Counter-Reformation, the regulating of the carnival to remove the violence and disorders of earlier years, a refining of the features of the carnival which removed some of the crudeness and vulgarity. These moves concerned particularly the carnival of the people, of which only glimpses are recorded; the years after the mid sixteenth century are those in which the Church and the cultural elite distanced themselves from the popular culture which had been shared by all in the Renaissance period - and the carnival was the prime example of this culture. Annual edicts dictated the rules to be observed in the conduct of carnival; initially extremely severe, they were softened somewhat in the course of the seventeenth century, particularly in relation to the participation of women in the celebrations. This chapter ends with a look at the innovations of Paul II, who gave the carnival its essential form and duration in 1466, by his move to the Corso (via Lata), his introduction of the classical `Trionfo', which was in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries a celebration of the city and the Pope, and in the seventeenth century of the aristocracy. Some reference will be made to the most popular masks seen in the seventeenth century carnival. The chapter ends with a look at the races, increased in number and in variety by Paul II. For most of this period the horse-race was only one of a number of races; only in the second half of the seventeenth century did it become the sole kind. Chapter Two covers the period up to 1789; a period of relative stability, free from political tension and troubles. The form of the carnival was now virtually complete - only the `Moccoli' ceremony of the last evening had still to be added. This chapter gives a description of the various features of the carnival which remains generally valid for later periods, though more details and more emphasis will be noted on certain points in later chapters. The focus was now firmly on the Corso, by this time the venue for all the main events of the carnival - the public events. The games of Agone and Testaccio were over, and the other locations which had been occasionally used no longer figured in the celebrations. The aristocratic domination of the occasion had declined considerably; the focus was on the people and their pleasure, the aristocracy preferring, as Goethe indicated, to mix with the crowd on the street. Foreigners were an increasing presence, but had not yet begun to take such an enthusiastic part in the proceedings as they did later. A description of individual features will be given, the masks, some indication of the scenes played out on the Corso, the confetti battles (with a look at the projectiles used in earlier periods), the `moccoli' evening, the races ( the one area where the aristocracy maintained control for the greater part of the century). Chapter Three covers the period between 1789 and 1815 - a period of upheaval, with the arrival of revolution in the city. The political dimension was brought into the carnival, the element of conflict absent for so many years. With war in Europe the numbers of foreigners visiting the city diminished considerably; there is much less information available from foreign observers for this period. The political tension, already apparent even before the arrival of the French in 1798, came to the surface at various moments, most notably in the remarkable example of passive resistance to the French command which took place in the carnival of 1809. The French, in 1798-99, made an unsuccessful attempt to reform and renew the carnival, to turn it into a `f^ete réolutionnaire' (`la Festa Saturnale'); but very soon things were back to normal - or almost, since the `moccoli' ceremony banned in 1790, was not resumed till 1811. The traditional masks, some of which had been outlawed, were back in those closing years of the period. There was a further increase in the freedom allowed to women, and the mask of the peasant girl, or `Ciociara' was becoming the most popular female costume. Chapter Four continues the story up to 1848. With the end of hostilities and the Restoration of Papal government foreigners flocked back to Rome, and began to play a more active role, in the masked ball, private or public, but also on the Corso - particularly in the confetti battles, where their participation was so violent that they often offended the Romans. The freedom of the young women was even more noticeable in these years. The quality of the horses presented for the races had deteriorated. The familiar masks were very much in evidence, but there was an increase of more primitive and grotesque ones - animals, giants, physical deformities. There is more evidence of little scenes played out on, and off, the Corso, and praise of the skill of the Romans in comic improvisation. There were, however, numerous foreign observers who denied the ability of the Romans to `support' character, and who preferred the masked ball, their concept of masking - based on historical, artistic, literary models. Such masks began to appear on the Corso, too. This chapter ends with a look at the political situation after 1830. Even before this year some of the more sensitive foreign observers had sensed an unease and a tension under the light-heartedness of the affair, indications that perhaps some of the inhabitants of Rome had not welcomed the Pope back so whole-heartedly. The carnival of 1831, in the middle of the rebellion in the Papal States, brought this to the surfac

Proceedings of the Eighth Italian Conference on Computational Linguistics CliC-it 2021

The eighth edition of the Italian Conference on Computational Linguistics (CLiC-it 2021) was held at Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca from 26th to 28th January 2022. After the edition of 2020, which was held in fully virtual mode due to the health emergency related to Covid-19, CLiC-it 2021 represented the first moment for the Italian research community of Computational Linguistics to meet in person after more than one year of full/partial lockdown

A South African Convivio with Dante

This book offers a collection of South African university students’ written responses to the Commedia and scholars’ commentary on them. The students’ collection includes writings of all genres and subjects: prose, poetry, personal reflection, dialogue, non-fiction based on the first two cantiche of the Commedia. Some are autobiographical and others are fictional stories, but they all have in common a very personal (and South African) approach to Dante’s text. The scholarly essays of the second part are concerned with the unusual way in which Dante is appreciated by our youth: not as a remote figure only encountered in the hallways of the literature department, but as an intimate presence, a guide, a friend whose language is familiar and invites a response

2014, UMaine News Press Releases

This is a catalog of press releases put out by the University of Maine Division of Marketing and Communications between January 6, 2014 and December 31, 2014

Lost Books

Questions of survival and loss bedevil the study of early printed books. Many early publications are not particularly rare, but many have disappeared altogether. Here leading specialists in the field explore different strategies for recovering this lost world of print. ; Readership: Scholars of early modern history, literature and religion, students of bibliography, book history. Advanced level undergraduates and postgraduate students with interest in these fields, members of the antiquarian book trade

Refugee policies from 1933 until today: challenges and responsibilities

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