Security protocols for EPC class-1 Gen-2 RFID multi-tag systems

The objective of the research is to develop security protocols for EPC C1G2 RFID Passive Tags in the areas of ownership transfer and grouping proof

Radio Frequency Interference Impact Assessment on Global Navigation Satellite Systems

The Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen of the EC Joint Research Centre (IPSC-JRC) has been mandated to perform a study on the Radio Frequency (RF) threat against telecommunications and ICT control systems. This study is divided into two parts. The rst part concerns the assessment of high energy radio frequency (HERF) threats, where the focus is on the generation of electromagnetic pulses (EMP), the development of corresponding devices and the possible impact on ICT and power distribution systems. The second part of the study concerns radio frequency interference (RFI) with regard to global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). This document contributes to the second part and contains a detailed literature study disclosing the weaknesses of GNSS systems. Whereas the HERF analysis only concerns intentional interference issues, this study on GNSS also takes into account unintentional interference, enlarging the spectrum of plausible interference scenarios.JRC.DG.G.6-Security technology assessmen

Authorisation Issues for Mobile Code in Mobile Systems

This thesis is concerned with authorisation issues for mobile code in mobile systems. It is divided into three main parts. Part I covers the development of a policy-based framework for the authorisation of mobile code and agents by host systems. Part II addresses the secure download, storage and execution of a conditional access application, used in the secure distribution of digital video broadcast content. Part III explores the way in which trusted computing technology may be used in the robust implementation of OMA DRM version 2. In part I of this thesis, we construct a policy-based mobile code and agent authorisation framework, with the objective of providing both mobile devices and service providers with the ability to assign appropriate privileges to incoming executables. Whilst mobile code and agent authorisation mechanisms have previously been considered in a general context, this thesis focuses on the special requirements resulting from mobile code and agent authorisation in a mobile environment, which restrict the types of solutions that may be viable. Following the description and analysis of a number of architectural models upon which a policy-based framework for mobile code and agent authorisation may be constructed, we outline a list of features desirable in the definitive underlying architecture. Specific implementation requirements for the capabilities of the policy and attribute certificate specification languages and the associated policy engine are then extracted. Candidate policy specification languages, namely KeyNote (and Nereus), Ponder (and (D)TPL) and SAML are then examined, and conclusions drawn regarding their suitability for framework expression. Finally, the definitive policy based framework for mobile code and agent authorisation is described. In the second part of this thesis, a flexible approach that allows consumer products to support a wide range of proprietary content protection systems, or more specifically digital video broadcast conditional access systems, is proposed. Two protocols for the secure download of content protection software to mobile devices are described. The protocols apply concepts from trusted computing to demonstrate that a platform is in a sufficiently trustworthy state before any application or associated keys are securely downloaded. The protocols are designed to allow mobile devices to receive broadcast content protected by proprietary conditional access applications. Generic protocols are first described, followed by an analysis of how well the downloaded code is protected in transmission. How the generic protocols may be implemented using specific trusted computing technologies is then investigated. For each of the selected trusted computing technologies, an analysis of how the conditional access application is protected while in storage and while executing on the mobile host is also presented. We then examine two previously proposed download protocols, which assume a mobile receiver compliant with the XOM and AEGIS system architectures. Both protocols are then analysed against the security requirements defined for secure application download, storage and execution. We subsequently give a series of proposed enhancements to the protocols which are designed to address the identified shortcomings. In the final section of this thesis, we examine OMA DRM version 2, which defines the messages, protocols and mechanisms necessary in order to control the use of digital content in a mobile environment. However, an organisation, such as the CMLA, must specify how robust implementations of the OMA DRM version 2 specification should be, so that content providers can be confident that their content will be safe on OMA DRM version 2 devices. We take the requirements extracted for the robust implementation of the OMA DRM version 2 specification and propose an implementation which meets these requirements using the TCG architecture and TPM/TSS version 1.2 commands

Secure location-aware communications in energy-constrained wireless networks

Wireless ad hoc network has enabled a variety of exciting civilian, industrial and military applications over the past few years. Among the many types of wireless ad hoc networks, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) has gained popularity because of the technology development for manufacturing low-cost, low-power, multi-functional motes. Compared with traditional wireless network, location-aware communication is a very common communication pattern and is required by many applications in WSNs. For instance, in the geographical routing protocol, a sensor needs to know its own and its neighbors\u27 locations to forward a packet properly to the next hop. The application-aware communications are vulnerable to many malicious attacks, ranging from passive eavesdropping to active spoofing, jamming, replaying, etc. Although research efforts have been devoted to secure communications in general, the properties of energy-constrained networks pose new technical challenges: First, the communicating nodes in the network are always unattended for long periods without physical maintenance, which makes their energy a premier resource. Second, the wireless devices usually have very limited hardware resources such as memory, computation capacity and communication range. Third, the number of nodes can be potentially of very high magnitude. Therefore, it is infeasible to utilize existing secure algorithms designed for conventional wireless networks, and innovative mechanisms should be designed in a way that can conserve power consumption, use inexpensive hardware and lightweight protocols, and accommodate with the scalability of the network. In this research, we aim at constructing a secure location-aware communication system for energy-constrained wireless network, and we take wireless sensor network as a concrete research scenario. Particularly, we identify three important problems as our research targets: (1) providing correct location estimations for sensors in presence of wormhole attacks and pollution attacks, (2) detecting location anomalies according to the application-specific requirements of the verification accuracy, and (3) preventing information leakage to eavesdroppers when using network coding for multicasting location information. Our contributions of the research are as follows: First, we propose two schemes to improve the availability and accuracy of location information of nodes. Then, we study monitoring and detection techniques and propose three lightweight schemes to detect location anomalies. Finally, we propose two network coding schemes which can effectively prevent information leakage to eavesdroppers. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our schemes in enhancing security of the system. Compared to previous works, our schemes are more lightweight in terms of hardware cost, computation overhead and communication consumptions, and thus are suitable for energy-constrained wireless networks

A System for the Verication of Location Claims

As location becomes an increasingly important piece of context information regarding a device, so too must the method of providing this information increase in reliability. In many situations, false location information may impact the security or objectives of the system to which it has been supplied. Research concerning localization and location verication addresses this issue. The majority of solutions, however, revolve around a trusted infrastructure to provide a certied location. This thesis presents an enhanced design for a location verication system, moving verication away from infrastructure-based approaches. Instead, an ad hoc approach is presented, employing regular local devices in the role usually reserved for trusted entities - the role of the evidence provider. We begin with an introduction to the area of localization, outlining the primary techniques employed. We summarize previous approaches, highlighting the improvements and outstanding issues of each. Following this, we outline a novel metric for use with distance bounding to increase the accuracy of evidence extracted from the distance bounding process. We show through emulation that this metric is feasible within an IEEE 802.11 wireless network. We detail the Secure Location Verication Proof Gathering Protocol (SLVPGP), a protocol designed to protect the process of evidence gathering. We employ our novel metric to conrm the presence of a device in an area. We repeatedly extend the SLVPGP's basic design to form three protocols, each with increasingly stronger security. These protocols are formally veried to conrm their specied security properties. To complete the design of our verication system, we present two approaches to judging a claim based on the evidence supplied. We demonstrate the accuracy of these approach through simulation. We also include a brief outline of the concept of reputation and discuss an existing app

Certificate status information distribution and validation in vehicular networks

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) are emerging as an functional technology for providing a wide range of applications to vehicles and passengers. Ensuring secure functioning is one of the prerequisites for deploying reliable VANETs. The basic solution envisioned to achieve these requirements is to use digital certificates linked to a user by a trusted third party. These certificates can then be used to sign information. Most of the existing solutions manage these certificates by means of a central Certification Authority (CA). According to IEEE 1609.2 standard, vehicular networks will rely on the public key infrastructure (PKI). In PKI, a CA issues an authentic digital certificate for each node in the network. Therefore, an efficient certificate management is crucial for the robust and reliable operation of any PKI. A critical part of any certificate-management scheme is the revocation of certificates. The distribution of certificate status information process, as well as the revocation process itself, is an open research problem for VANETs.In this thesis, firstly we analyze the revocation process itself and develop an accurate and rigorous model for certificate revocation. One of the key findings of our analysis is that the certificate revocation process is statistically self-similar. As none of the currently common formal models for revocation is able to capture the self-similar nature of real revocation data, we develop an ARFIMA model that recreates this pattern. We show that traditional mechanisms that aim to scale could benefit from this model to improve their updating strategies.Secondly, we analyze how to deploy a certificate status checking service for mobile networks and we propose a new criterion based on a risk metric to evaluate cached status data. With this metric, the PKI is able to code information about the revocation process in the standard certificate revocation lists. Thus, users can evaluate a risk function in order to estimate whether a certificate has been revoked while there is no connection to a status checking server. Moreover, we also propose a systematic methodology to build a fuzzy system that assists users in the decision making process related to certificate status checking.Thirdly, we propose two novel mechanisms for distributing and validating certificate status information (CSI) in VANET. This first mechanism is a collaborative certificate status checking mechanism based on the use based on an extended-CRL. The main advantage of this extended-CRL is that the road-side units and repository vehicles can build an efficient structure based on an authenticated hash tree to respond to status checking requests inside the VANET, saving time and bandwidth. The second mechanism aims to optimize the trade- off between the bandwidth necessary to download the CSI and the freshness of the CSI. This mechanism is based on the use of a hybrid delta-CRL scheme and Merkle hash trees, so that the risk of operating with unknown revoked certificates remains below a threshold during the validity interval of the base-CRL, and CAs have the ability to manage this risk by setting the size of the delta-CRLs. Finally, we also analyze the impact of the revocation service in the certificate prices. We model the behavior of the oligopoly of risk-averse certificate providers that issue digital certificates to clients facing iden- tical independent risks. We found the equilibrium in the Bertrand game. In this equilibrium, we proof that certificate providers that offer better revocation information are able to impose higher prices to their certificates without sacrificing market share in favor of the other oligarchs.Las redes vehiculares ad hoc (VANETs) se están convirtiendo en una tecnología funcional para proporcionar una amplia gama de aplicaciones para vehículos y pasajeros. Garantizar un funcionamiento seguro es uno de los requisitos para el despliegue de las VANETs. Sin seguridad, los usuarios podrían ser potencialmente vulnerables a la mala conducta de los servicios prestados por la VANET. La solución básica prevista para lograr estos requisitos es el uso de certificados digitales gestionados a través de una autoridad de certificación (CA). De acuerdo con la norma IEEE 1609.2, las redes vehiculares dependerán de la infraestructura de clave pública (PKI). Sin embargo, el proceso de distribución del estado de los certificados, así como el propio proceso de revocación, es un problema abierto para VANETs.En esta tesis, en primer lugar se analiza el proceso de revocación y se desarrolla un modelo preciso y riguroso que modela este proceso conluyendo que el proceso de revocación de certificados es estadísticamente auto-similar. Como ninguno de los modelos formales actuales para la revocación es capaz de capturar la naturaleza auto-similar de los datos de revocación, desarrollamos un modelo ARFIMA que recrea este patrón. Mostramos que ignorar la auto-similitud del proceso de revocación lleva a estrategias de emisión de datos de revocación ineficientes. El modelo propuesto permite generar trazas de revocación sintéticas con las cuales los esquemas de revocación actuales pueden ser mejorados mediante la definición de políticas de emisión de datos de revocación más precisas. En segundo lugar, se analiza la forma de implementar un mecanismo de emisión de datos de estado de los certificados para redes móviles y se propone un nuevo criterio basado en una medida del riesgo para evaluar los datos de revocación almacenados en la caché. Con esta medida, la PKI es capaz de codificar la información sobre el proceso de revocación en las listas de revocación. Así, los usuarios pueden estimar en función del riesgo si un certificado se ha revocado mientras no hay conexión a un servidor de control de estado. Por otra parte, también se propone una metodología sistemática para construir un sistema difuso que ayuda a los usuarios en el proceso de toma de decisiones relacionado con la comprobación de estado de certificados.En tercer lugar, se proponen dos nuevos mecanismos para la distribución y validación de datos de estado de certificados en VANETs. El primer mecanismo está basado en el uso en una extensión de las listas estandares de revocación. La principal ventaja de esta extensión es que las unidades al borde de la carretera y los vehículos repositorio pueden construir una estructura eficiente sobre la base de un árbol de hash autenticado para responder a las peticiones de estado de certificados. El segundo mecanismo tiene como objetivo optimizar el equilibrio entre el ancho de banda necesario para descargar los datos de revocación y la frescura de los mismos. Este mecanismo se basa en el uso de un esquema híbrido de árboles de Merkle y delta-CRLs, de modo que el riesgo de operar con certificados revocados desconocidos permanece por debajo de un umbral durante el intervalo de validez de la CRL base, y la CA tiene la capacidad de gestionar este riesgo mediante el ajuste del tamaño de las delta-CRL. Para cada uno de estos mecanismos, llevamos a cabo el análisis de la seguridad y la evaluación del desempeño para demostrar la seguridad y eficiencia de las acciones que se emprenden

Incentive Mechanisms in Peer-to-Peer Networks — A Systematic Literature Review

Centralized networks inevitably exhibit single points of failure that malicious actors regularly target. Decentralized networks are more resilient if numerous participants contribute to the network’s functionality. Most decentralized networks employ incentive mechanisms to coordinate the participation and cooperation of peers and thereby ensure the functionality and security of the network. This article systematically reviews incentive mechanisms for decentralized networks and networked systems by covering 165 prior literature reviews and 178 primary research papers published between 1993 and October 2022. Of the considered sources, we analyze 11 literature reviews and 105 primary research papers in detail by categorizing and comparing the distinctive properties of the presented incentive mechanisms. The reviewed incentive mechanisms establish fairness and reward participation and cooperative behavior. We review work that substitutes central authority through independent and subjective mechanisms run in isolation at each participating peer and work that applies multiparty computation. We use monetary, reputation, and service rewards as categories to differentiate the implementations and evaluate each incentive mechanism’s data management, attack resistance, and contribution model. Further, we highlight research gaps and deficiencies in reproducibility and comparability. Finally, we summarize our assessments and provide recommendations to apply incentive mechanisms to decentralized networks that share computational resources