1,507 research outputs found
On the Security of Software Systems and Services
This work investigates new methods for facing the security issues and threats arising from the composition of software. This task has been carried out through the formal modelling of both the software composition scenarios and the security properties, i.e., policies, to be guaranteed.
Our research moves across three different modalities of software composition which are of main interest for some of the most sensitive aspects of the modern information society. They are mobile applications, trust-based composition and service orchestration.
Mobile applications are programs designed for being deployable on remote platforms. Basically, they are the main channel for the distribution and commercialisation of software for mobile devices, e.g., smart phones and tablets. Here we study the security threats that affect the application providers and the hosting platforms. In particular, we present a programming framework for the development of applications with a static and dynamic security support. Also, we implemented an enforcement mechanism for applying fine-grained security controls on the execution of possibly malicious applications.
In addition to security, trust represents a pragmatic and intuitive way for managing the interactions among systems. Currently, trust is one of the main factors that human beings keep into account when deciding whether to accept a transaction or not. In our work we investigate the possibility of defining a fully integrated environment for security policies and trust including a runtime monitor.
Finally, Service-Oriented Computing (SOC) is the leading technology for business applications distributed over a network. The security issues related to the service networks are many and multi-faceted. We mainly deal with the static verification of secure composition plans of web services. Moreover, we introduce the synthesis
of dynamic security checks for protecting the services against illegal invocations
ClaimChain: secure Blockchain platform for handling insurance claims processing
Insurance claims processing involves multi-domain entities and multi-source data, along with a number of human-agent interactions. Consequently, this processing is traditionally manually-intensive and time-consuming. Blockchain technologybased platforms for intelligent automation can significantly improve the scale and response time of claims processing. However, there is a need to secure such platforms against fraud (e.g., duplicate claims) and the loss of data integrity caused due to cyber-attacks (e.g., Sybil attack). This thesis proposes a novel "Claim- Chain", a consortium Blockchain platform that transforms the state-of-the-art NICB/ISO database architecture approach through increased shared intelligence and participation of insurance companies. ClaimChain features include: (a) automation of insurance claim processing via implementation of a Blockchain infrastructure, (b) infrastructure-level threat modeling via attack tree formalism for data integrity attacks, and (c) application-level fraud modeling for identified prominent red flags through machine learning models and risk scoring on the basis of risk severity. The scalability of ClaimChain is evaluated by simulating realistically large number of Blockchain transactions of claim processing. It is shown that data integrity attacks at the infrastructure-level can be mitigated (reduction of 24 percent probability in loss) through implementation of security design principles. Also, fraud-detection is performed over an open dataset in ClaimChain to show how machine learning models can detect fraudulent activity with 98 percent accuracy.Includes bibliographical references
Security Analysis of System Behaviour - From "Security by Design" to "Security at Runtime" -
The Internet today provides the environment for novel applications and
processes which may evolve way beyond pre-planned scope and
purpose. Security analysis is growing in complexity with the increase
in functionality, connectivity, and dynamics of current electronic
business processes. Technical processes within critical
infrastructures also have to cope with these developments. To tackle
the complexity of the security analysis, the application of models is
becoming standard practice. However, model-based support for security
analysis is not only needed in pre-operational phases but also during
process execution, in order to provide situational security awareness
at runtime.
This cumulative thesis provides three major contributions to modelling
methodology.
Firstly, this thesis provides an approach for model-based analysis and
verification of security and safety properties in order to support
fault prevention and fault removal in system design or redesign.
Furthermore, some construction principles for the design of
well-behaved scalable systems are given.
The second topic is the analysis of the exposition of vulnerabilities
in the software components of networked systems to exploitation by
internal or external threats. This kind of fault forecasting allows
the security assessment of alternative system configurations and
security policies. Validation and deployment of security policies
that minimise the attack surface can now improve fault tolerance and
mitigate the impact of successful attacks.
Thirdly, the approach is extended to runtime applicability. An
observing system monitors an event stream from the observed system
with the aim to detect faults - deviations from the specified
behaviour or security compliance violations - at runtime.
Furthermore, knowledge about the expected behaviour given by an
operational model is used to predict faults in the near
future. Building on this, a holistic security management strategy is
proposed. The architecture of the observing system is described and
the applicability of model-based security analysis at runtime is
demonstrated utilising processes from several industrial scenarios.
The results of this cumulative thesis are provided by 19 selected
peer-reviewed papers
Project Final Report Use and Dissemination of Foreground
This document is the final report on use and dissemination of foreground, part of the CONNECT final report. The document provides the lists of: publications, dissemination activities, and exploitable foregroun
Policy-Driven Memory Protection for Reconfigurable Hardware
Abstract. While processor based systems often enforce memory pro-tection to prevent the unintended sharing of data between processes, current systems built around reconfigurable hardware typically offer no such protection. Several reconfigurable cores are often integrated onto a single chip where they share external resources such as memory. While this enables small form factor and low cost designs, it opens up the op-portunity for modules to intercept or even interfere with the operation of one another. We investigate the design and synthesis of a memory protection mechanism capable of enforcing policies expressed as a formal language. Our approach includes a specialized compiler that translates a policy of legal sharing to reconfigurable logic blocks which can be di-rectly transferred to an FPGA. The efficiency of our access language design flow is evaluated in terms of area and cycle time across a variety of security scenarios
Algorithmic governance : A modes of governance approach
This article examines how modes of governance are reconfigured as a result of using algorithms in the governance process. We argue that deploying algorithmic systems creates a shift toward a special form of design-based governance, with power exercised ex ante via choice architectures defined through protocols, requiring lower levels of commitment from governing actors. We use governance of three policy problems - speeding, disinformation, and social sharing - to illustrate what happens when algorithms are deployed to enable coordination in modes of hierarchical governance, self-governance, and co-governance. Our analysis shows that algorithms increase efficiency while decreasing the space for governing actors' discretion. Furthermore, we compare the effects of algorithms in each of these cases and explore sources of convergence and divergence between the governance modes. We suggest design-based governance modes that rely on algorithmic systems might be re-conceptualized as algorithmic governance to account for the prevalence of algorithms and the significance of their effects.Peer reviewe
Hackers vs. Security: Attack-Defence Trees as Asynchronous Multi-Agent Systems
Attack-Defence Trees (ADTs) are well-suited to assess possible attacks to
systems and the efficiency of counter-measures. In this paper, we first enrich
the available constructs with reactive patterns that cover further security
scenarios, and equip all constructs with attributes such as time and cost to
allow quantitative analyses. Then, ADTs are modelled as (an extension of)
Asynchronous Multi-Agents Systems--EAMAS. The ADT-EAMAS transformation is
performed in a systematic manner that ensures correctness. The transformation
allows us to quantify the impact of different agents configurations on metrics
such as attack time. Using EAMAS also permits parametric verification: we
derive constraints for property satisfaction. Our approach is exercised on
several case studies using the Uppaal and IMITATOR tools.Comment: This work was partially funded by the NWO project SEQUOIA (grant
15474), EU project SUCCESS (102112) and the PHC van Gogh PAMPAS. The work of
Arias and Petrucci has been supported by the BQR project AMoJA
Systematizing Genome Privacy Research: A Privacy-Enhancing Technologies Perspective
Rapid advances in human genomics are enabling researchers to gain a better
understanding of the role of the genome in our health and well-being,
stimulating hope for more effective and cost efficient healthcare. However,
this also prompts a number of security and privacy concerns stemming from the
distinctive characteristics of genomic data. To address them, a new research
community has emerged and produced a large number of publications and
initiatives.
In this paper, we rely on a structured methodology to contextualize and
provide a critical analysis of the current knowledge on privacy-enhancing
technologies used for testing, storing, and sharing genomic data, using a
representative sample of the work published in the past decade. We identify and
discuss limitations, technical challenges, and issues faced by the community,
focusing in particular on those that are inherently tied to the nature of the
problem and are harder for the community alone to address. Finally, we report
on the importance and difficulty of the identified challenges based on an
online survey of genome data privacy expertsComment: To appear in the Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies
(PoPETs), Vol. 2019, Issue
Law and Policy for the Quantum Age
Law and Policy for the Quantum Age is for readers interested in the political and business strategies underlying quantum sensing, computing, and communication. This work explains how these quantum technologies work, future national defense and legal landscapes for nations interested in strategic advantage, and paths to profit for companies
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