A prototype system for human-computer interaction logging, post-processing, and data visualization for the Project54 system

Police officers and other emergency responders have been using the Project54 system in their vehicles for many years. Over this time it is likely that certain trends have developed regarding how they use the system to make their daily tasks easier and safer. This thesis examines the use of human-computer interaction logging, post-processing and data visualization techniques to quantify and graphically present how police officers utilize the Project54 system. Specifically, data was retrieved from two deployed police cruisers that identified their use of Project54\u27s speech user interface (SUI) and graphical user interface (GUI), as well as the vehicles\u27 original hardware controllers. That information was then analyzed and five different sets of data visualizations were generated based on the analysis results. The visualizations were reviewed by eight members of the Project54 design team, whose feedback indicated that the visualizations were successful at relaying conclusive results from the quantitative analysis

A Framework for Cyber Vulnerability Assessments of InfiniBand Networks

InfiniBand is a popular Input/Output interconnect technology used in High Performance Computing clusters. It is employed in over a quarter of the world’s 500 fastest computer systems. Although it was created to provide extremely low network latency with a high Quality of Service, the cybersecurity aspects of InfiniBand have yet to be thoroughly investigated. The InfiniBand Architecture was designed as a data center technology, logically separated from the Internet, so defensive mechanisms such as packet encryption were not implemented. Cyber communities do not appear to have taken an interest in InfiniBand, but that is likely to change as attackers branch out from traditional computing devices. This thesis considers the security implications of InfiniBand features and constructs a framework for conducting Cyber Vulnerability Assessments. Several attack primitives are tested and analyzed. Finally, new cyber tools and security devices for InfiniBand are proposed, and changes to existing products are recommended

Quantitative Measurement of Cyber Resilience: Modeling and Experimentation

Cyber resilience is the ability of a system to resist and recover from a cyber attack, thereby restoring the system's functionality. Effective design and development of a cyber resilient system requires experimental methods and tools for quantitative measuring of cyber resilience. This paper describes an experimental method and test bed for obtaining resilience-relevant data as a system (in our case -- a truck) traverses its route, in repeatable, systematic experiments. We model a truck equipped with an autonomous cyber-defense system and which also includes inherent physical resilience features. When attacked by malware, this ensemble of cyber-physical features (i.e., "bonware") strives to resist and recover from the performance degradation caused by the malware's attack. We propose parsimonious mathematical models to aid in quantifying systems' resilience to cyber attacks. Using the models, we identify quantitative characteristics obtainable from experimental data, and show that these characteristics can serve as useful quantitative measures of cyber resilience.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2302.04413, arXiv:2302.0794

Proximity detection protocols for IoT devices

In recent years, we have witnessed the growth of the Internet of Things paradigm, with its increased pervasiveness in our everyday lives. The possible applications are diverse: from a smartwatch able to measure heartbeat and communicate it to the cloud, to the device that triggers an event when we approach an exhibit in a museum. Present in many of these applications is the Proximity Detection task: for instance the heartbeat could be measured only when the wearer is near to a well defined location for medical purposes or the touristic attraction must be triggered only if someone is very close to it. Indeed, the ability of an IoT device to sense the presence of other devices nearby and calculate the distance to them can be considered the cornerstone of various applications, motivating research on this fundamental topic. The energy constraints of the IoT devices are often in contrast with the needs of continuous operations to sense the environment and to achieve high accurate distance measurements from the neighbors, thus making the design of Proximity Detection protocols a challenging task

Analysis of security at the Near-real-time RIC xApps based on O-RAN-defined use cases

The Open Radio Access Network Alliance (O-RAN Alliance) is a group of industry and academic organizations that strive to realize the vision of next-generation cellular networks. Using standardized interfaces, telecommunications operators can operate multi-vendor infrastructure and deliver high-speed services to their mobile users. Additionally, the O-RAN Alliance has standardized an Open Radio Access Network (RAN) architecture based on the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and other standards. User planes and control planes are currently separate in RAN architecture. The separation makes it easier to accommodate network function virtualization methods required for 5G, enabling it to be more flexible. To help in the management of resources, the O-RAN standard proposes the use of xApps, i.e., dedicated applications that can be customly installed by the network operatior and that can be purchased from different vendors. For this reason, securely managing xApps represents a significant challenge for the security of the overall network.\\ In this thesis, we analyze the security of xApps and their proposed use cases. Based on the applications porposed by the O-RAN alliance, we provide an in depth analysis of the vulnerabilities and their impact on the network. We also discuss different features of attacks, such as reproducibility, stealthiness, exposure, and impact. Based on our analysis, we conclude that significant work is still to be made to guarantee the security of O-RAN and in particular of its xApps. This thesis hence provides a baseline for future research in the domain of security and privacy for next generation communication network

Development and Performance Evaluation of Urban Mobility Applications and Services

L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen