Fingerprinting Internet DNS Amplification DDoS Activities

This work proposes a novel approach to infer and characterize Internet-scale DNS amplification DDoS attacks by leveraging the darknet space. Complementary to the pioneer work on inferring Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) activities using darknet, this work shows that we can extract DDoS activities without relying on backscattered analysis. The aim of this work is to extract cyber security intelligence related to DNS Amplification DDoS activities such as detection period, attack duration, intensity, packet size, rate and geo-location in addition to various network-layer and flow-based insights. To achieve this task, the proposed approach exploits certain DDoS parameters to detect the attacks. We empirically evaluate the proposed approach using 720 GB of real darknet data collected from a /13 address space during a recent three months period. Our analysis reveals that the approach was successful in inferring significant DNS amplification DDoS activities including the recent prominent attack that targeted one of the largest anti-spam organizations. Moreover, the analysis disclosed the mechanism of such DNS amplification DDoS attacks. Further, the results uncover high-speed and stealthy attempts that were never previously documented. The case study of the largest DDoS attack in history lead to a better understanding of the nature and scale of this threat and can generate inferences that could contribute in detecting, preventing, assessing, mitigating and even attributing of DNS amplification DDoS activities.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Digital Architecture as Crime Control

This paper explains how theories of realspace architecture inform the prevention of computer crime. Despite the prevalence of the metaphor, architects in realspace and cyberspace have not talked to one another. There is a dearth of literature about digital architecture and crime altogether, and the realspace architectural literature on crime prevention is often far too soft for many software engineers. This paper will suggest the broad brushstrokes of potential design solutions to cybercrime, and in the course of so doing, will pose severe criticisms of the White House\u27s recent proposals on cybersecurity. The paper begins by introducing four concepts of realspace crime prevention through architecture. Design should: (1) create opportunities for natural surveillance, meaning its visibility and susceptibility to monitoring by residents, neighbors, and bystanders; (2) instill a sense of territoriality so that residents develop proprietary attitudes and outsiders feel deterred from entering a private space; (3) build communities and avoid social isolation; and (4) protect targets of crime. There are digital analogues to each goal. Natural-surveillance principles suggest new virtues of open-source platforms, such as Linux, and territoriality outlines a strong case for moving away from digital anonymity towards psuedonymity. The goal of building communities will similarly expose some new advantages for the original, and now eroding, end-to-end design of the Internet. An understanding of architecture and target prevention will illuminate why firewalls at end points will more effectively guarantee security than will attempts to bundle security into the architecture of the Net. And, in total, these architectural lessons will help us chart an alternative course to the federal government\u27s tepid approach to computer crime. By leaving the bulk of crime prevention to market forces, the government will encourage private barricades to develop - the equivalent of digital gated communities - with terrible consequences for the Net in general and interconnectivity in particular

A Survey of Requirements for COVID-19 Mitigation Strategies. Part I: Newspaper Clips

The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced virtually all aspects of our lives. Across the world, countries have applied various mitigation strategies for the epidemic, based on social, political, and technological instruments. We postulate that one should {identify the relevant requirements} before committing to a particular mitigation strategy. One way to achieve it is through an overview of what is considered relevant by the general public, and referred to in the media. To this end, we have collected a number of news clips that mention the possible goals and requirements for a mitigation strategy. The snippets are sorted thematically into several categories, such as health-related goals, social and political impact, civil rights, ethical requirements, and so on. In a forthcoming companion paper, we will present a digest of the requirements, derived from the news clips, and a preliminary take on their formal specification

Exploitation of cryptocurrencies as a tool for tax evasion: technological and regulatory issues

Tax evasion is a crime that harms the national economies, society and indirectly affects all the residents of each state. Now that after a long time of international efforts the traditional tax evasion tools have eventually been put under a reasonable control, a new technology has emerged able to facilitate efficient tax evasion. The main objectives of this research are to identify the regulatory challenges of the non-precedent technology, to analyse the applicability of the current EU legislation aimed at tax evasion prevention to the exploitation of cryptocurrencies, and to assess the recommendations of academics and international organizations for a possible future regulation. This research resulted establishing that tax evasion through cryptocurrencies is easy to perform at efficient level for the consumers while difficult to discover for the authorities. Due to the novel way of operation of the distributed ledger technology on which cryptocurrencies are based, cryptocurrencies cannot be placed under the existing regulation, instead an innovative approach is required. Each of the analysed proposition for the future regulation can only partly solve some of the challenges presented by the cryptocurrencies as a tool for tax evasion therefore a complex and globally consented approach needs to be developed

From Social Data Mining to Forecasting Socio-Economic Crisis

Socio-economic data mining has a great potential in terms of gaining a better understanding of problems that our economy and society are facing, such as financial instability, shortages of resources, or conflicts. Without large-scale data mining, progress in these areas seems hard or impossible. Therefore, a suitable, distributed data mining infrastructure and research centers should be built in Europe. It also appears appropriate to build a network of Crisis Observatories. They can be imagined as laboratories devoted to the gathering and processing of enormous volumes of data on both natural systems such as the Earth and its ecosystem, as well as on human techno-socio-economic systems, so as to gain early warnings of impending events. Reality mining provides the chance to adapt more quickly and more accurately to changing situations. Further opportunities arise by individually customized services, which however should be provided in a privacy-respecting way. This requires the development of novel ICT (such as a self- organizing Web), but most likely new legal regulations and suitable institutions as well. As long as such regulations are lacking on a world-wide scale, it is in the public interest that scientists explore what can be done with the huge data available. Big data do have the potential to change or even threaten democratic societies. The same applies to sudden and large-scale failures of ICT systems. Therefore, dealing with data must be done with a large degree of responsibility and care. Self-interests of individuals, companies or institutions have limits, where the public interest is affected, and public interest is not a sufficient justification to violate human rights of individuals. Privacy is a high good, as confidentiality is, and damaging it would have serious side effects for society.Comment: 65 pages, 1 figure, Visioneer White Paper, see http://www.visioneer.ethz.c

A survey of defense mechanisms against distributed denial of service (DDOS) flooding attacks

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) flooding attacks are one of the biggest concerns for security professionals. DDoS flooding attacks are typically explicit attempts to disrupt legitimate users' access to services. Attackers usually gain access to a large number of computers by exploiting their vulnerabilities to set up attack armies (i.e., Botnets). Once an attack army has been set up, an attacker can invoke a coordinated, large-scale attack against one or more targets. Developing a comprehensive defense mechanism against identified and anticipated DDoS flooding attacks is a desired goal of the intrusion detection and prevention research community. However, the development of such a mechanism requires a comprehensive understanding of the problem and the techniques that have been used thus far in preventing, detecting, and responding to various DDoS flooding attacks. In this paper, we explore the scope of the DDoS flooding attack problem and attempts to combat it. We categorize the DDoS flooding attacks and classify existing countermeasures based on where and when they prevent, detect, and respond to the DDoS flooding attacks. Moreover, we highlight the need for a comprehensive distributed and collaborative defense approach. Our primary intention for this work is to stimulate the research community into developing creative, effective, efficient, and comprehensive prevention, detection, and response mechanisms that address the DDoS flooding problem before, during and after an actual attack. © 1998-2012 IEEE