An Android Generic Geo-Fencing Application: Proximity Triggered Notification Service Delivery

The widespread availability of smartphones, presents unprecedented opportunity to devise creative software solutions that leverage on the powerful hardware embedded in this devices to aid and improve interactions between the user and the environmen

GEOFENCING AS APPLIED WITHIN THE FIELD OF CYBERSECURITY: AN OVERVIEW OF POTENTIAL RISKS AND ADVANTAGES

This culminating experience project explores geofencing as a potential risk and advantageous tool within the field of cybersecurity. Geofencing is defined here as a software program feature that allows its users to collect and deliver data within a specific targeted geographical area. Currently used applications are addressed from a cybersecurity mindset by applying the hacker methodology to demonstrate the potential threat. Additionally, geofencing is applied to the NIST Cybersecurity Framework to demonstrate potential benefits for cyber defence. Finally, vulnerabilities associated with applying geofencing to cyber defense, and its potential implications on privacy and cybersecurity laws is discussed and recommendations for further research are suggested. Key findings include: Demonstrating geofencing as an unknown threat in the field of cybersecurity, suggesting attention be dedicated to the type of data that is collected and the safety measures protecting that data. Geofencing can be used as a tool to defend as well as support risk management. By using it as a source of data collection, decisions can be implemented to better manage the risk of devices entering and leaving a specified geographical area. Geofencing can provide data that falls into Personally Identifiable Information (PII) which should make it regulated under most privacy laws. Current privacy policies and laws are insufficient when the scope of geofencing is applied to current methodologies. Geofencing must be regulated in a fashion that ensures data collected is necessary and relevant, and that the data is kept safe from potential threats

ACUTA Journal of Telecommunications in Higher Education

In This Issue President\u27s Message From the ACUTA CEO Leg/Reg lssues Facing Higher Education Future Proof? The Coming lP Transition Growing Gigs Air U: Transforming TV White Spaces into lnternet Connectivity Taming the Social Media Beast Technology to Comply with Clery Act Emerging Trends on Campus 0ARnet and Ohio\u27s 100 Gbps Broadband Pipeline Iowa State Moves Voice Communications to the Cloud lnstitutional Excellence Awar

Vulnerability Analysis of the MAVLink Protocol for Command and Control of Unmanned Aircraft

The MAVLink protocol is an open source, point-to-point networking protocol used to carry telemetry and to command and control many small unmanned aircraft. This research presents three exploits that compromise confidentiality, integrity, and availability vulnerabilities in the communication between an unmanned aerial vehicle and a ground control station using the MAVLink protocol. The attacks assume the configuration settings for the data-link hardware have been obtained. Field experiments using MAVProxy to compromise communication between an ArduPilot Mega 2.5 autopilot and the Mission Planner application demonstrate that all three exploits are successful when MAVLink messages are unprotected. A methodology is proposed to quantify the cost of securing the MAVLink protocol through the measurement of network latency, power consumption, and exploit success. Experimental measurements indicate that the ArduPilot Mega 2.5 autopilot running the ATmega2560 processor at 16 MHz with the standard, unsecured MAVLink protocol consumes on average 0.0105 additional watts of power per second and operates with an average additional latency of 0.11 seconds while under the most resource-intensive attack than when not under attack

Residential access control system using QR code and the IoT

This paper presents a residential access control system (RACs) using QR codes and the internet of things (IoT) to improve security and help house owners. The contribution of this paper is that it proposes two mechanisms in the authentication phase and the verification phase, respectively, to enhance residential access control. The main idea is using cryptography between smartphones and access control devices. The cryptography compares secret codes on the key server via the internet. The RACs can notify a user of the residential access status through the LINE application and show the statuses of devices through the network platform for the internet of everything (NETPIE) in real-time. We compare this system’s performance with that of the current access control methods in terms of security and access speed. The results show that this system has more security and has an access speed of 5.63 seconds. Moreover, this system is safer and more flexible than the comparative methods and suitable for contactless authentication

I Know What You Did Last Summer: Your Smart Home Internet of Things and Your iPhone Forensically Ratting You Out

The adoption of smart home Internet of Things (IoT) devices continues to grow. What if your devices can snitch on you and let us know where you are at any given point in time? In this work we examined the forensic artifacts produced by Nest devices, and in specific, we examined the logical backup structure of an iPhone used to control a Nest thermostat, Nest Indoor Camera and a Nest Outdoor Camera. We also integrated the Google Home Mini as another method of controlling the studied Smart Home devices. Our work is the primary account for the examination of Nest artifacts produced by an iPhone, and is also the first open source research to produce a usable forensics tool we name the Forensic Evidence Acquisition and Analysis System (FEAAS). FEAAS consolidates evidentiary data into a readable report that can infer user events (like entering or leaving a home) and what triggered an event (whether it was the Google Assistant through a voice command, or the use of an iPhone application). Our results are important for the advancement of digital forensics, as there are cases starting to emerge in which smart home IoT devices have already been used as culpatory evidence

Cost-Effective Platforms for Near-Space Research and Experiments

High-altitude balloons (HABs) are commonly used for atmospheric research. In recent years, newly developed platforms and instruments allow to measure position, temperature, radiation, humidity and gas profile in the troposphere and stratosphere. However, current platforms, such as radiosonde, have limited bandwidth and relatively small number of possible sensors on board. Furthermore, all the measuring instruments carried on board the balloon cannot be reused since most of the times the radiosonde cannot be retrieved. In this chapter, we present a generic near-space research platform based on an improved radio frequency (RF) communication, an advanced set of sensors that might also include a return-to-home (RTH) micro-UAV. We present the overall structure of an advanced HAB payload, which is equipped with a low-cost sophisticated set of sensors along with HD camera system, which weight less than 300 g. The payload is tied to a weather balloon with a smart autonomous release mechanism and two-way RF telemetry channel (LoRa or Iridium communication). The payload can be released from the balloon at any given time or position, allowing it to fall at a predicted area. In case the payload is attached to a micro UAV, it can return autonomously by multioptional smart decline to a pre-defined location using a built-in autopilot. The suggested new strategy is presented using several case studies and field experiments