Secure Mobile Social Networks using USIM in a Closed Environment

Online social networking and corresponding mobile based applications are gaining popularity and now considered a well-integrated service within mobile devices. Basic security mechanisms normally based on passwords for the authentication of social-network users are widely deployed and poses a threat for the user security. In particular, for dedicated social groups with high confidentiality and privacy demands, stronger and user friendly principles for the authentication and identification of group members are needed. On the other hand, most of the mobile units already provide strong authentication procedures through the USIM/ISIM module. This paper explores how to build an architectural framework for secure enrollment and identification of group members in dedicated closed social groups using the USIM/SIM authentication and in particular, the 3GPP Generic Authentication Architecture (GAA), which is built upon the USIM/SIM capabilities. One part of the research is to identify the marketable use-cases with corresponding security challenges to fulfill the requirements that extend beyond the online connectivity. This paper proposes a secure identification design to satisfy the security dimensions for both online and offline peers. We have also implemented an initial proof of the concept prototype to simulate the secure identification procedure based on the proposed design. Our implementation has demonstrated the flexibility of the solution to be applied independently for applications requiring secure identification

Privacy considerations for secure identification in social wireless networks

This thesis focuses on privacy aspects of identification and key exchange schemes for mobile social networks. In particular, we consider identification schemes that combine wide area mobile communication with short range communication such as Bluetooth, WiFi. The goal of the thesis is to identify possible security threats to personal information of users and to define a framework of security and privacy requirements in the context of mobile social networking. The main focus of the work is on security in closed groups and the procedures of secure registration, identification and invitation of users in mobile social networks. The thesis includes an evaluation of the proposed identification and key exchange schemes and a proposal for a series of modifications that augments its privacy-preserving capabilities. The ultimate design provides secure and effective identity management in the context of, and in respect to, the protection of user identity privacy in mobile social networks

Towards Proactive Mobility-Aware Fog Computing

Paljude värkvõrk- ja ärirakenduste tavapäraseks osaks on sõltuvus kaugete pilveteenuste poolt pakutavast andmetöötlusvõimekusest. Arvestatav hulk seesugustest rakendustest koguvad andmeid mitmetelt ümbritsevatelt heterogeensetelt seadmetelt, et pakkuda reaalajal põhinevaid teenuseid oma kasutajatele. Taolise lahenduse negatiivseks küljeks on aga kõrge viiteaeg, mis muutub eriti problemaatiliseks, kui vastava rakenduse efektiivne töö on väleda vastuse saamisega otseses sõltuvuses. Taolise olukorra puhul on viiteaja vähendamiseks välja pakutud uduandmetöötlusel põhinev arhitektuur, mis kujutab endast arvutusmahukate andmetöötlusühikute jaotamist andmeallikate ja lõppkasutajatele lähedal asuvatele arvutusseadmetele. Vaatamata sellele, et uduandmetöötlusel põhinev arhitektuur on paljutõotav, toob see kaasa uusi väljakutseid seoses kvaliteetse uduandmetöötlusteenuse pakkumisega mobiilsetele kasutajatele. Käesolev magistritöö käsitleb proaktiivset lähenemist uduandmetöötlusele, kasutades selleks lähedalasuvatel kasutajatel baseeruvat mobiilset ad hoc võrgustikku, mis võimaldab uduteenusetuvastust ja juurdepääsu ilma pilveteenuse abi kasutamata. Proaktiivset lähenemist kasutatakse nii teenusetuvastuse ja arvutuse migratsiooni kui ka otsese uduteenuse pakkumise käigus, kiirendades arvutusühikute jaotusprotsessi ning parendadades arvutuste jaotust vastavalt käitusaegsele kontekstiinfole (nt. arvutusseadmete hetkevõimekus). Lisaks uuriti uduarvutuse rakendusviisi mobiilses sotsiaal–silmusvõrgustikus, tehes andmeedastuseks optimaalseima valiku vastavalt kuluefektiivsuse indeksile. Lähtudes katsetest nii päris seadmete kui simulaatoritega, viidi läbi käesoleva magistritöö komponentide kontseptuaalsete prototüüpide testhindamine.A common approach for many Internet of Things (IoT) and business applications is to rely on distant Cloud services for the processing of data. Several of these applications collect data from a multitude of proximity-based ubiquitous resources to provide various real-time services for their users. However, this has the downside of resulting in explicit latency of the result, being especially problematic when the application requires a rapid response in the edge network. Therefore, researchers have proposed the Fog computing architecture that distributes the computational data processing tasks to the edge network nodes located in the vicinity of the data sources and end-users, to reduce the latency. Although the Fog computing architecture is promising, it still faces challenges in many areas, especially when dealing with support for mobile users. Utilizing Fog for real-time mobile applications faces the new challenge of ensuring the seamless accessibility of Fog services on the move. Further, Fog computing also faces a challenge in mobility when the tasks originate from mobile ubiquitous applications in which the data sources are moving objects. In this thesis, a proactive approach for Fog computing is proposed, which supports proactive Fog service discovery and process migration using Mobile Ad hoc Social Network in proximity, enabling Fog-assisted ubiquitous service provisioning in proximity without distant Cloud services. Moreover, a proactive approach is also applied for the Fog service provisioning itself, in order to hasten the task distribution process in Mobile Fog use cases and provide an optimization scheme based on runtime context information. In addition, a case study regarding the usage of Fog Computing for the enhancement of Mobile Mesh Social Network was presented, along with a resource-aware Cost-Performance Index scheme to assist choosing the approach to be used for transmission of data. The proposed elements have been evaluated by utilizing a combination of real devices and simulators in order to provide proof-of-concept

Information communication technology adoption and business performance of tour operators in malaysia

The survival of tour operators depends very much on their adaptation to changes in tourists’ preferences and demands. Previous studies have shown mixed findings on the adoption ability of tour operators of different adopter categories namely innovator, early adopter, early or late majority, and laggards, to sustain their business performance with changes in information communication technology (ICT). A review of the literature has also indicated a lack of ICT adoption studies that measure adoption ability of tour operators in identifying their varying characteristics that relate to their business performance. Therefore, this research aims to explore the relationships between ICT adoption, company profiles and adoption characteristics of Malaysian tour operators, and their business performance. A quantitative technique of a structured questionnaire was used to elicit five variable parameters namely company profiles, ICT adoption, the contributing factors, adoption characteristics and business performance. A pilot test was conducted to validate the variables that were adapted into a structural scale to assist in data collection. A total of 285 tour operator companies that were identified from the registered members of the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) and from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Malaysia answered the questionnaire. Findings showed little difference between new and older tour operators in terms of ICT adoption. However, in the context of ICT adoption and business performance, there were specific divergences between the two, particularly when focusing on company age and adoption characteristics. Findings also suggest that company profiles, particularly age element and adoption characteristics have a large influence on Malaysian tour operators’ ICT adoption towards business performance. Findings also found that there were hidden elements that were not covered in the existing elements of adoption characteristics, namely smartness and the generation gap. This study contributes to the enhancement of the understanding of factors contributing to ICT adoption and business performance among Malaysian tour operators

Interoperability of wireless communication technologies in hybrid networks: Evaluation of end-to-end interoperability issues and quality of service requirements

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Hybrid Networks employing wireless communication technologies have nowadays brought closer the vision of communication “anywhere, any time with anyone”. Such communication technologies consist of various standards, protocols, architectures, characteristics, models, devices, modulation and coding techniques. All these different technologies naturally may share some common characteristics, but there are also many important differences. New advances in these technologies are emerging very rapidly, with the advent of new models, characteristics, protocols and architectures. This rapid evolution imposes many challenges and issues to be addressed, and of particular importance are the interoperability issues of the following wireless technologies: Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) IEEE802.11, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) IEEE 802.16, Single Channel per Carrier (SCPC), Digital Video Broadcasting of Satellite (DVB-S/DVB-S2), and Digital Video Broadcasting Return Channel through Satellite (DVB-RCS). Due to the differences amongst wireless technologies, these technologies do not generally interoperate easily with each other because of various interoperability and Quality of Service (QoS) issues. The aim of this study is to assess and investigate end-to-end interoperability issues and QoS requirements, such as bandwidth, delays, jitter, latency, packet loss, throughput, TCP performance, UDP performance, unicast and multicast services and availability, on hybrid wireless communication networks (employing both satellite broadband and terrestrial wireless technologies). The thesis provides an introduction to wireless communication technologies followed by a review of previous research studies on Hybrid Networks (both satellite and terrestrial wireless technologies, particularly Wi-Fi, WiMAX, DVB-RCS, and SCPC). Previous studies have discussed Wi-Fi, WiMAX, DVB-RCS, SCPC and 3G technologies and their standards as well as their properties and characteristics, such as operating frequency, bandwidth, data rate, basic configuration, coverage, power, interference, social issues, security problems, physical and MAC layer design and development issues. Although some previous studies provide valuable contributions to this area of research, they are limited to link layer characteristics, TCP performance, delay, bandwidth, capacity, data rate, and throughput. None of the studies cover all aspects of end-to-end interoperability issues and QoS requirements; such as bandwidth, delay, jitter, latency, packet loss, link performance, TCP and UDP performance, unicast and multicast performance, at end-to-end level, on Hybrid wireless networks. Interoperability issues are discussed in detail and a comparison of the different technologies and protocols was done using appropriate testing tools, assessing various performance measures including: bandwidth, delay, jitter, latency, packet loss, throughput and availability testing. The standards, protocol suite/ models and architectures for Wi-Fi, WiMAX, DVB-RCS, SCPC, alongside with different platforms and applications, are discussed and compared. Using a robust approach, which includes a new testing methodology and a generic test plan, the testing was conducted using various realistic test scenarios on real networks, comprising variable numbers and types of nodes. The data, traces, packets, and files were captured from various live scenarios and sites. The test results were analysed in order to measure and compare the characteristics of wireless technologies, devices, protocols and applications. The motivation of this research is to study all the end-to-end interoperability issues and Quality of Service requirements for rapidly growing Hybrid Networks in a comprehensive and systematic way. The significance of this research is that it is based on a comprehensive and systematic investigation of issues and facts, instead of hypothetical ideas/scenarios or simulations, which informed the design of a test methodology for empirical data gathering by real network testing, suitable for the measurement of hybrid network single-link or end-to-end issues using proven test tools. This systematic investigation of the issues encompasses an extensive series of tests measuring delay, jitter, packet loss, bandwidth, throughput, availability, performance of audio and video session, multicast and unicast performance, and stress testing. This testing covers most common test scenarios in hybrid networks and gives recommendations in achieving good end-to-end interoperability and QoS in hybrid networks. Contributions of study include the identification of gaps in the research, a description of interoperability issues, a comparison of most common test tools, the development of a generic test plan, a new testing process and methodology, analysis and network design recommendations for end-to-end interoperability issues and QoS requirements. This covers the complete cycle of this research. It is found that UDP is more suitable for hybrid wireless network as compared to TCP, particularly for the demanding applications considered, since TCP presents significant problems for multimedia and live traffic which requires strict QoS requirements on delay, jitter, packet loss and bandwidth. The main bottleneck for satellite communication is the delay of approximately 600 to 680 ms due to the long distance factor (and the finite speed of light) when communicating over geostationary satellites. The delay and packet loss can be controlled using various methods, such as traffic classification, traffic prioritization, congestion control, buffer management, using delay compensator, protocol compensator, developing automatic request technique, flow scheduling, and bandwidth allocation

Interoperability of wireless communication technologies in hybrid networks : evaluation of end-to-end interoperability issues and quality of service requirements

Hybrid Networks employing wireless communication technologies have nowadays brought closer the vision of communication “anywhere, any time with anyone”. Such communication technologies consist of various standards, protocols, architectures, characteristics, models, devices, modulation and coding techniques. All these different technologies naturally may share some common characteristics, but there are also many important differences. New advances in these technologies are emerging very rapidly, with the advent of new models, characteristics, protocols and architectures. This rapid evolution imposes many challenges and issues to be addressed, and of particular importance are the interoperability issues of the following wireless technologies: Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) IEEE802.11, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) IEEE 802.16, Single Channel per Carrier (SCPC), Digital Video Broadcasting of Satellite (DVB-S/DVB-S2), and Digital Video Broadcasting Return Channel through Satellite (DVB-RCS). Due to the differences amongst wireless technologies, these technologies do not generally interoperate easily with each other because of various interoperability and Quality of Service (QoS) issues. The aim of this study is to assess and investigate end-to-end interoperability issues and QoS requirements, such as bandwidth, delays, jitter, latency, packet loss, throughput, TCP performance, UDP performance, unicast and multicast services and availability, on hybrid wireless communication networks (employing both satellite broadband and terrestrial wireless technologies). The thesis provides an introduction to wireless communication technologies followed by a review of previous research studies on Hybrid Networks (both satellite and terrestrial wireless technologies, particularly Wi-Fi, WiMAX, DVB-RCS, and SCPC). Previous studies have discussed Wi-Fi, WiMAX, DVB-RCS, SCPC and 3G technologies and their standards as well as their properties and characteristics, such as operating frequency, bandwidth, data rate, basic configuration, coverage, power, interference, social issues, security problems, physical and MAC layer design and development issues. Although some previous studies provide valuable contributions to this area of research, they are limited to link layer characteristics, TCP performance, delay, bandwidth, capacity, data rate, and throughput. None of the studies cover all aspects of end-to-end interoperability issues and QoS requirements; such as bandwidth, delay, jitter, latency, packet loss, link performance, TCP and UDP performance, unicast and multicast performance, at end-to-end level, on Hybrid wireless networks. Interoperability issues are discussed in detail and a comparison of the different technologies and protocols was done using appropriate testing tools, assessing various performance measures including: bandwidth, delay, jitter, latency, packet loss, throughput and availability testing. The standards, protocol suite/ models and architectures for Wi-Fi, WiMAX, DVB-RCS, SCPC, alongside with different platforms and applications, are discussed and compared. Using a robust approach, which includes a new testing methodology and a generic test plan, the testing was conducted using various realistic test scenarios on real networks, comprising variable numbers and types of nodes. The data, traces, packets, and files were captured from various live scenarios and sites. The test results were analysed in order to measure and compare the characteristics of wireless technologies, devices, protocols and applications. The motivation of this research is to study all the end-to-end interoperability issues and Quality of Service requirements for rapidly growing Hybrid Networks in a comprehensive and systematic way. The significance of this research is that it is based on a comprehensive and systematic investigation of issues and facts, instead of hypothetical ideas/scenarios or simulations, which informed the design of a test methodology for empirical data gathering by real network testing, suitable for the measurement of hybrid network single-link or end-to-end issues using proven test tools. This systematic investigation of the issues encompasses an extensive series of tests measuring delay, jitter, packet loss, bandwidth, throughput, availability, performance of audio and video session, multicast and unicast performance, and stress testing. This testing covers most common test scenarios in hybrid networks and gives recommendations in achieving good end-to-end interoperability and QoS in hybrid networks. Contributions of study include the identification of gaps in the research, a description of interoperability issues, a comparison of most common test tools, the development of a generic test plan, a new testing process and methodology, analysis and network design recommendations for end-to-end interoperability issues and QoS requirements. This covers the complete cycle of this research. It is found that UDP is more suitable for hybrid wireless network as compared to TCP, particularly for the demanding applications considered, since TCP presents significant problems for multimedia and live traffic which requires strict QoS requirements on delay, jitter, packet loss and bandwidth. The main bottleneck for satellite communication is the delay of approximately 600 to 680 ms due to the long distance factor (and the finite speed of light) when communicating over geostationary satellites. The delay and packet loss can be controlled using various methods, such as traffic classification, traffic prioritization, congestion control, buffer management, using delay compensator, protocol compensator, developing automatic request technique, flow scheduling, and bandwidth allocation.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

A formal agent-based personalised mobile system to support emergency response

Communication may be seen as a process of sending and accepting information among individuals. It is a vital part of emergency response management, sharing the information of situations, victims, family and friends, rescue organisations and others. The obtained contextual information during a disaster event, however, is often dynamic, partial and may be conflicting with each other. Current communication strategies and solutions for emergency response have limitations - in that they are often designed to support information sharing between organisations and not individuals. As a result, they are often not personalisable. They also cannot make use of opportunistic resources, e.g. people nearby the disaster-struck areas that are ready to help but are not a part of any organisation. However, history has told us such people are often the first responders that provide the most immediate and useful help to the victims. On the other hand, the advanced and rich capabilities of mobile smartphones have become one of the most interesting topics in the field of mobile technologies and applied science. It is especially interesting when it can be expanded to become an effective emergency response tool to discover affected people and connect them with the first responders and their families, friends and communities. At present, research on emergency response is ineffective for handling large-scale disasters where professional rescuers could not reach victims in disaster struck-areas immediately. This is because current approaches are often built to support formal emergency response teams and organizations. Individual emergency response efforts, e.g. searching for missing people (inc. families and friends), are often web-based applications that are also not effective. Other works focus on sensory development that lacks integrated search and rescue approaches. In this thesis, I developed a distributed and personalisable Mobile Kit Disaster Assistant (MKA) system that is underpinned by a formal foundation. It aims at gathering emergency response information held by multiple resources before, during and after a large-scale disaster. As a result, contextual and background information based on a formal framework would be readily available, if a disaster indeed strikes. To this end, my core contribution is to provide a structural formal framework to encapsulate important information that is used to support emergency response at a personal level. Several (conceptual) structures were built to allow an individual to express his/her own individual circumstances, inc. relationships with others and health status that will determine how he/she may communicate with others. The communication framework is consisting of several new components: a rich and holistic Emergency Response Communication Framework, a newly developed Communication and Tracking Ontology (CTO), a newly devised Emergency Response Agent Communication Language (ER-ACL) and a brand-new Emergency Response Agent Communication Protocol (ER-ACP). I have framed the emergency response problem as a multi-agent problem where each smartphone would act as an agent for its user; each user would take on a role depending on requirements and/or the tasks at hand and the above framework is aimed to be used within a peer to peer distributed multiagent system (MAS) to assist emergency response efforts. Based on this formal framework, I have developed a mobile application, the MKA system, to capture important features of EM and to demonstrate the practicalities and value of the proposed formal framework. This system was carefully evaluated by both domain experts and potential users of targeted user groups using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The overall results are very encouraging. Evaluators appreciated the importance of the tool and believe such tools are vital in saving lives – that is applicable for large-scale disasters as well as for individual life-critical events

The Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment

This open access volume is the first comprehensive assessment of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region. It comprises important scientific research on the social, economic, and environmental pillars of sustainable mountain development and will serve as a basis for evidence-based decision-making to safeguard the environment and advance people’s well-being. The compiled content is based on the collective knowledge of over 300 leading researchers, experts and policymakers, brought together by the Hindu Kush Himalayan Monitoring and Assessment Programme (HIMAP) under the coordination of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). This assessment was conducted between 2013 and 2017 as the first of a series of monitoring and assessment reports, under the guidance of the HIMAP Steering Committee: Eklabya Sharma (ICIMOD), Atiq Raman (Bangladesh), Yuba Raj Khatiwada (Nepal), Linxiu Zhang (China), Surendra Pratap Singh (India), Tandong Yao (China) and David Molden (ICIMOD and Chair of the HIMAP SC). This First HKH Assessment Report consists of 16 chapters, which comprehensively assess the current state of knowledge of the HKH region, increase the understanding of various drivers of change and their impacts, address critical data gaps and develop a set of evidence-based and actionable policy solutions and recommendations. These are linked to nine mountain priorities for the mountains and people of the HKH consistent with the Sustainable Development Goals. This book is a must-read for policy makers, academics and students interested in this important region and an essentially important resource for contributors to global assessments such as the IPCC reports. ; Constitutes the first comprehensive assessment of the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, providing an authoritative overview of the region Assembles the collective knowledge of over 300 leading researchers, practitioners, experts, and policymakers Combines the current state of knowledge of the Hindu Kush Himalaya region in one volume Offers Open Access to a set of practically oriented policy recommendation

The Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment

This open access volume is the first comprehensive assessment of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region. It comprises important scientific research on the social, economic, and environmental pillars of sustainable mountain development and will serve as a basis for evidence-based decision-making to safeguard the environment and advance people’s well-being. The compiled content is based on the collective knowledge of over 300 leading researchers, experts and policymakers, brought together by the Hindu Kush Himalayan Monitoring and Assessment Programme (HIMAP) under the coordination of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). This assessment was conducted between 2013 and 2017 as the first of a series of monitoring and assessment reports, under the guidance of the HIMAP Steering Committee: Eklabya Sharma (ICIMOD), Atiq Raman (Bangladesh), Yuba Raj Khatiwada (Nepal), Linxiu Zhang (China), Surendra Pratap Singh (India), Tandong Yao (China) and David Molden (ICIMOD and Chair of the HIMAP SC). This First HKH Assessment Report consists of 16 chapters, which comprehensively assess the current state of knowledge of the HKH region, increase the understanding of various drivers of change and their impacts, address critical data gaps and develop a set of evidence-based and actionable policy solutions and recommendations. These are linked to nine mountain priorities for the mountains and people of the HKH consistent with the Sustainable Development Goals. This book is a must-read for policy makers, academics and students interested in this important region and an essentially important resource for contributors to global assessments such as the IPCC reports. ; Constitutes the first comprehensive assessment of the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, providing an authoritative overview of the region Assembles the collective knowledge of over 300 leading researchers, practitioners, experts, and policymakers Combines the current state of knowledge of the Hindu Kush Himalaya region in one volume Offers Open Access to a set of practically oriented policy recommendation