Investigating the relationship between knowledge management practices and organizational learning practices in the universities’ environment

The concept of knowledge management (KM) and organizational learning (OL) has been embraced by organizations to complement each other. Higher education institutions have embraced KM and OL as a means to improve organizational efficiency. This research explores the link between KM and OL. The target population included all the 432 academicians and administrators from 35 public universities in Iraq. The sampling was selected using a stratified random sampling technique. The correlation among the components of KM and OL was tested as well as the effect of KM components on OL. The findings were derived using smart partial least square. The findings showed that there is significant correlation between components of KM and components of OL. The regression analysis showed also that the effect of KM and its components; knowledge creation, knowledge sharing, knowledge storage, knowledge application and knowledge acquisition on OL are significant. These findings provide insights to universities management on strategies to implement KM practices that can align with OL practices to assure dynamic lifelong mechanisms for the basic daily activities such as teaching, learning, researching, and supervision

Provably secure and efficient audio compression based on compressive sensing

The advancement of systems with the capacity to compress audio signals and simultaneously secure is a highly attractive research subject. This is because of the need to enhance storage usage and speed up the transmission of data, as well as securing the transmission of sensitive signals over limited and insecure communication channels. Thus, many researchers have studied and produced different systems, either to compress or encrypt audio data using different algorithms and methods, all of which suffer from certain issues including high time consumption or complex calculations. This paper proposes a compressing sensing-based system that compresses audio signals and simultaneously provides an encryption system. The audio signal is segmented into small matrices of samples and then multiplied by a non-square sensing matrix generated by a Gaussian random generator. The reconstruction process is carried out by solving a linear system using the pseudoinverse of Moore-Penrose. The statistical analysis results obtaining from implementing different types and sizes of audio signals prove that the proposed system succeeds in compressing the audio signals with a ratio reaching 28% of real size and reconstructing the signal with a correlation metric between 0.98 and 0.99. It also scores very good results in the normalized mean square error (MSE), peak signal-to-noise ratio metrics (PSNR), and the structural similarity index (SSIM), as well as giving the signal a high level of security

Enc-DNS-HTTP: Utilising DNS Infrastructure to Secure Web Browsing

Online information security is a major concern for both users and companies, since data transferred via the Internet is becoming increasingly sensitive. The World Wide Web uses Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to transfer information and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to secure the connection between clients and servers. However, Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is vulnerable to attacks that threaten the privacy of information sent between clients and servers. In this paper, we propose Enc-DNS-HTTP for securing client requests, protecting server responses, and withstanding HTTPS attacks. Enc-DNS-HTTP is based on the distribution of a web server public key, which is transferred via a secure communication between client and a Domain Name System (DNS) server. This key is used to encrypt client-server communication. The scheme is implemented in the C programming language and tested on a Linux platform. In comparison with Apache HTTPS, this scheme is shown to have more effective resistance to attacks and improved performance since it does not involve a high number of time-consuming operations

Secure Data of Industrial Internet of Things in a Cement Factory Based on a Blockchain Technology

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has become a pivotal field of development that can increase the efficiency of real-time collection, recording, analysis, and control of the entire activities of various machines, and can actively enhance quality and reduce costs. The traditional IIoT depends on centralized architectures that are vulnerable to several kinds of cyber-attacks, such as bottlenecks and single points of failure. Blockchain technology has emerged to change these architectures to a decentralized form. In modern industrial settings, blockchain technology is utilized for its ability to provide high levels of security, low computational complexity, P2P communication, transparent logs, and decentralization. The present work proposes the use of a private blockchain mechanism for an industrial application in a cement factory, which offers low power consumption, scalability, and a lightweight security scheme; and which can play an efficient role in controlling access to valuable data generated by sensors and actuators. A low-power ARM Cortex-M processor is utilized due to its efficiency in terms of processing cryptographic algorithms, and this plays an important part in improving the computational execution of the proposed architecture. In addition, instead of proof of work (PoW), our blockchain network uses proof of authentication (PoAh) as a consensus mechanism to ensure secure authentication, scalability, speed, and energy efficiency. Our experimental results show that the proposed framework achieves high levels of security, scalability and ideal performance for smart industrial environments. Moreover, we successfully realized the integration of blockchain technology with the industrial internet of things devices, which provides the blockchain technology features and efficient resistance to common cyber-security attacks

Enc-DNS-HTTP: Utilising DNS Infrastructure to Secure Web Browsing

Online information security is a major concern for both users and companies, since data transferred via the Internet is becoming increasingly sensitive. The World Wide Web uses Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to transfer information and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to secure the connection between clients and servers. However, Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is vulnerable to attacks that threaten the privacy of information sent between clients and servers. In this paper, we propose Enc-DNS-HTTP for securing client requests, protecting server responses, and withstanding HTTPS attacks. Enc-DNS-HTTP is based on the distribution of a web server public key, which is transferred via a secure communication between client and a Domain Name System (DNS) server. This key is used to encrypt client-server communication. The scheme is implemented in the C programming language and tested on a Linux platform. In comparison with Apache HTTPS, this scheme is shown to have more effective resistance to attacks and improved performance since it does not involve a high number of time-consuming operations

A Lightweight Scheme to Authenticate and Secure the Communication in Smart Grids

Self-reconfiguration in electrical power grids is a significant tool for their planning and operation during both normal and abnormal conditions. The increasing in employment of Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs), as well as the rapid growth of the new communication technologies have increased the application of Feeder Automation (FA) in Distribution Networks (DNs). In a Smart Grid (SG), automation equipment, such as a Smart Breaker (SB), is used. Using either a wired or a wireless network or even a combination of both, communication between the Control Center (CC) and SBs can be made. Nowadays, wireless technology is widely used in the communication of DNs. This may cause several security vulnerabilities in the power system, such as remote attacks, with the goal of cutting off the electrical power provided to significant consumers. Therefore, to preserve the cybersecurity of the system, there is a need for a secure scheme. The available literature investments proposed a heavyweight level in security schemes, while the overhead was not considered. To overcome this drawback, this paper presents an efficient lightweight authentication mechanism with the necessary steps to ensure real-time automatic reconfiguration during a fault. As a first stage, authentication will be made between CC and SB, SB then sends the information about its status. To ensure the integrity of the authentication exchange, a hash function is used, while the symmetric algorithm is used to ensure privacy. The applicability of the suggested scheme has been proved by conducting security performance and analysis. The proposed scheme will be injected on ABB medium voltage breaker with the REF 542plus controller. Therefore, the probable benefit of the suggested scheme is the contribution to provide more flexibility for electrical utilities in terms of reducing the overall computational overhead and withstanding to various types of attacks, while also opening new prospects in FA of SGs

Lightweight Integrity Preserving Scheme for Secure Data Exchange in Cloud-Based IoT Systems

The information obtained from external sources within the cloud and the resulting computations are not always reliable. This is attributed to the absence of tangible regulations and information management on the part of the information owners. Although numerous techniques for safeguarding and securing external information have been developed, security hazards in the cloud are still problematic. This could potentially pose a significant challenge to the effective adoption and utilization of cloud technology. In terms of performance, many of the existing solutions are affected by high computation costs, particularly in terms of auditing. In order to reduce the auditing expenses, this paper proposes a well-organised, lightweight system for safeguarding information through enhanced integrity checking. The proposed technique implements a cryptographic hash function with low-cost mathematic operations. In addition, this paper explores the role of a semi-trusted server with regard to smart device users. This facilitates the formal management of information prior to distribution through the IoT-cloud system. Essentially, this facilitates the validation of the information stored and exchanged in this environment. The results obtained show that the proposed system is lightweight and offers features such as a safeguarding capability, key management, privacy, decreased costs, sufficient security for smart device users, one-time key provision, and high degree of accuracy. In addition, the proposed method exhibits lower computation complexity and storage expenses compared with those of other techniques such as bilinear map-based systems

Ensuring Data Integrity Scheme Based on Digital Signature and Iris Features in Cloud

Cloud computing is a novel paradigm that allows users to remotely access their data through web- based tools and applications. Later, the users do not have the ability to monitor or arrange their data. In this case, many security challenges have been raised. One of these challenges is data integrity. Contentiously, the user cannot access his data directly and he could not know whether his data is modified or not. Therefore, the cloud service provider should provide efficient ways for the user to ascertain whether the integrity of his data is protected or compromised. In this paper, we focus on the problem of ensuring the integrity of data stored in the cloud. Additionally, we propose a method which combines biometric and cryptography techniques in a cost-effective manner for data owners to gain trust in the cloud. We present efficient and secure integrity based on the iris feature extraction and digital signature.  Iris recognition has become a new, emergent approach to individual identification in the last decade. It is one of the most accurate identity verification systems. This technique gives the cloud user more confidence in detecting any block that has been changed. Additionally, our proposed scheme employs user’s iris features to secure and integrate data in a manner difficult for any internal or external unauthorized entity to take or compromise it. Iris recognition is an internal organ that is well protected against damage and wear by a highly transparent and sensitive membrane. Extensive security and performance analysis show that our proposed scheme is highly efficient and provably secure

Fast Multi-User Searchable Encryption with Forward and Backward Private Access Control

Untrusted servers are servers or storage entities lacking complete trust from the data owner or users. This characterization implies that the server hosting encrypted data may not enjoy full trust from data owners or users, stemming from apprehensions related to potential security breaches, unauthorized access, or other security risks. The security of searchable encryption has been put into question by several recent attacks. Currently, users can search for encrypted documents on untrusted cloud servers using searchable symmetric encryption (SSE). This study delves deeply into two pivotal concepts of privacy within dynamic searchable symmetric encryption (DSSE) schemes: forward privacy and backward privacy. The former serves as a safeguard against the linkage of recently added documents to previously conducted search queries, whereas the latter guarantees the irretrievability of deleted documents in subsequent search inquiries. However, the provision of fine-grained access control is complex in existing multi-user SSE schemes. SSE schemes may also incur high computation costs due to the need for fine-grained access control, and it is essential to support document updates and forward privacy. In response to these issues, this paper suggests a searchable encryption scheme that uses simple primitive tools. We present a multi-user SSE scheme that efficiently controls access to dynamically encrypted documents to resolve these issues, using an innovative approach that readily enhances previous findings. Rather than employing asymmetric encryption as in comparable systems, we harness low-complexity primitive encryption tools and inverted index-based DSSE to handle retrieving encrypted files, resulting in a notably faster system. Furthermore, we ensure heightened security by refreshing the encryption key after each search, meaning that users are unable to conduct subsequent searches with the same key and must obtain a fresh key from the data owner. An experimental evaluation shows that our scheme achieves forward and Type II backward privacy and has much faster search performance than other schemes. Our scheme can be considered secure, as proven in a random oracle model

Lightweight, Secure, Similar-Document Retrieval over Encrypted Data

Applications for document similarity detection are widespread in diverse communities, including institutions and corporations. However, currently available detection systems fail to take into account the private nature of material or documents that have been outsourced to remote servers. None of the existing solutions can be described as lightweight techniques that are compatible with lightweight client implementation, and this deficiency can limit the effectiveness of these systems. For instance, the discovery of similarity between two conferences or journals must maintain the privacy of the submitted papers in a lightweight manner to ensure that the security and application requirements for limited-resource devices are fulfilled. This paper considers the problem of lightweight similarity detection between document sets while preserving the privacy of the material. The proposed solution permits documents to be compared without disclosing the content to untrusted servers. The fingerprint set for each document is determined in an efficient manner, also developing an inverted index that uses the whole set of fingerprints. Before being uploaded to the untrusted server, this index is secured by the Paillier cryptosystem. This study develops a secure, yet efficient method for scalable encrypted document comparison. To evaluate the computational performance of this method, this paper carries out several comparative assessments against other major approaches