A protocol to detect malicious hosts attacks by using reference states

To protect mobile agents from attacks by their execution environments, or hosts, one class of protection mechanisms uses 'reference states' to detect modification attacks. Reference states are agent states that have been produced by non-attacking, or reference hosts. This paper presents a new protocol using reference states by modifying an existing approach, called 'traces'. In contrast to the original approach, this new protocol offers a model, where the execution on one host is checked unconditionally and immediately on the next host, regardless of whether this host is trusted or untrusted. This modification preserves the qualitative advantages like asynchronous execution, but also introduces two new problems: input to the execution session on one host cannot be held secret to a second host, and collaboration attacks of two consecutive hosts are possible. The overhead needed for the protocol roughly doubles the cost of the mobile agent execution

A framework to protect mobile agents by using reference states

To protect mobile agents from attacks by their execution environments, or hosts, one class of protection mechanisms uses 'reference states' to detect modification attacks. Reference states are agent states that have been produced by non-attacking, or reference hosts. This paper examines this class of mechanisms and present the bandwidth of the achieved protection. First, a new general definition of attacks against mobile agents is presented. As this general definition does not lead to a practicable protection scheme, the notion of reference states is introduced. This notion allows to define a protection scheme that can be used to practically realize a whole number of mechanisms to protect mobile agents. Therefore, after an initial analysis of already existing approaches, the abstract features of these approaches are extracted. A discussion examines the strengths and weaknesses of the general protection scheme, and a framework is presented that allows an agent programmer to choose a level of protection using the reference states scheme. An example illustrates the usage of the framework, measurements present the overhead of the framework for the case of the example mechanism

ATOMAS : a transaction-oriented open multi agent system; final report

The electronic marketplace of the future will consist of a large number of services located on an open, distributed and heterogeneous platform, which will be used by an even larger number of clients. Mobile Agent Systems are considered to be a precondition for the evolution of such an electronic market. They can provide a flexible infrastructure for this market, i.e. for the installation of new services by service agents as well as for the utilization of these services by client agents. Mobile Agent Systems basically consist of a number of locations and agents. Locations are (logical) abstractions for (physical) hosts in a computer network. The network of locations serves as a unique and homogeneous platform, while the underlying network of hosts may be heterogeneous and widely distributed. Locations therefore have to guarantee independence from the underlying hard- and software. To make the Mobile Agent System an open platform, the system furthermore has to guarantee security of hosts against malicious attacks

AIDA II - Abschlußbericht

In diesem Bericht geht es um die Zusammenfassung der Erkenntnisse, die im Verlauf der zweiten Phase des AIDA-Projektes von März 1998 bis Februar 2000 gewonnen wurden. AIDA ist ein Projekt, das von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) finanziert wird. Das Thema dieses Projektes sind Systemmechanismen zur Unterstützung mobiler Agenten, also Einheiten, die aus Code, Daten und Zustand bestehen und sich selbstständig in einem Netzwerk bewegen können. Die Ziele von AIDA II waren die Erarbeitung des Themenbereichs Sicherheit in Mobile-Agenten-Systemen mit Schwerpunkt auf der Sicherheit mobiler Agenten gegenüber böswilligen Hosts, die Implementierung von Terminierungsprotokollen und Waisenerkennungsmechanismen, Abrechnungsmechanismen und schließlich Mechanismen zur Strukturunterstützung für Agentenanwendungen

Nexus - an open global infrastructure for spatial-aware applications

Due to the lack of a generic platform for location- and spatial-aware systems, many basic services have to be reimplemented in each application that uses spatial-awareness. A cooperation among different applications is also difficult to achieve without a common platform. In this paper we present a platform that solves these problems. It provides an infrastructure that is based on computer models of regions of the physical world, which are augmented by virtual objects. We show how virtual objects make the integration of existing information systems and services in spatial-aware systems easier. Furthermore, our platform supports interactions between the computer models and the real world and integrates single models in a global 'Augmented World'

AIDA I - Abschlußbericht

In diesem Bericht geht es um die Zusammenfassung der Erkenntnisse, die im Verlauf der ersten Phase des AIDA-Projektes bis September 1997 gewonnen wurden. AIDA ist ein Projekt, das von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) finanziert wird. Das Thema dieses Projektes sind mobile Agenten, also Einheiten, die aus Code, Daten und Zustand bestehen und sich selbständig in einem Netzwerk bewegen können. Das Ziel von AIDA I war es, auf der Grundlage eines allgemeinen Verarbeitungsmodells flexible Systemmechanismen für verteilte, agentenbasierte Systeme zu entwickeln

The future of fungi: threats and opportunities

The fungal kingdom represents an extraordinary diversity of organisms with profound impacts across animal, plant, and ecosystem health. Fungi simultaneously support life, by forming beneficial symbioses with plants and producing life-saving medicines, and bring death, by causing devastating diseases in humans, plants, and animals. With climate change, increased antimicrobial resistance, global trade, environmental degradation, and novel viruses altering the impact of fungi on health and disease, developing new approaches is now more crucial than ever to combat the threats posed by fungi and to harness their extraordinary potential for applications in human health, food supply, and environmental remediation. To address this aim, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund convened a workshop to unite leading experts on fungal biology from academia and industry to strategize innovative solutions to global challenges and fungal threats. This report provides recommendations to accelerate fungal research and highlights the major research advances and ideas discussed at the meeting pertaining to 5 major topics: (1) Connections between fungi and climate change and ways to avert climate catastrophe; (2) Fungal threats to humans and ways to mitigate them; (3) Fungal threats to agriculture and food security and approaches to ensure a robust global food supply; (4) Fungal threats to animals and approaches to avoid species collapse and extinction; and (5) Opportunities presented by the fungal kingdom, including novel medicines and enzymes

Managing Phenol Contents in Crop Plants by Phytochemical Farming and Breeding—Visions and Constraints

Two main fields of interest form the background of actual demand for optimized levels of phenolic compounds in crop plants. These are human health and plant resistance to pathogens and to biotic and abiotic stress factors. A survey of agricultural technologies influencing the biosynthesis and accumulation of phenolic compounds in crop plants is presented, including observations on the effects of light, temperature, mineral nutrition, water management, grafting, elevated atmospheric CO2, growth and differentiation of the plant and application of elicitors, stimulating agents and plant activators. The underlying mechanisms are discussed with respect to carbohydrate availability, trade-offs to competing demands as well as to regulatory elements. Outlines are given for genetic engineering and plant breeding. Constraints and possible physiological feedbacks are considered for successful and sustainable application of agricultural techniques with respect to management of plant phenol profiles and concentrations

A Framework to Protect Mobile Agents by Using Reference States

To protect mobile agents from attacks by their execution environments, or hosts, one class of protection mechanisms uses “reference states ” to detect modification attacks. Reference states are agent states that have been produced by non-attacking, or reference hosts. This paper examines this class of mechanisms and present the bandwidth of the achieved protection. First, a new general definition of attacks against mobile agents is presented. As this general definition does not lead to a practicable protection scheme, the notion of reference states is introduced. This notion allows to define a protection scheme that can be used to practically realize a whole number of mechanisms to protect mobile agents. Therefore, after an initial analysis of already existing approaches, the abstract features of these approaches are extracted. A discussion examines the strengths and weaknesses of the general protection scheme, and a framework is presented that allows an agent programmer to choose a level of protection using the reference states scheme. An example illustrates the usage of the framework, measurements present the overhead of the framework for the case of the example mechanism. 1

Security in mobile agent systems

Mobile Agenten sind Programminstanzen, die in der Lage sind, sich selbstständig zwischen verschiedenen, eventuell fremden, Ausführungsumgebungen zu bewegen und, unter Ausnutzung lokaler Ressourcen, Aufgaben zu erfüllen. Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Frage der Sicherheit zwischen mobilen Agenten und deren Ausführungsumgebungen. Die Aufgabenstellung umfasst zwei Teilbereiche. Im Bereich des Schutzes der Ausführungsumgebung vor Angriffen durch mobile Agenten werden die möglichen Angriffe und die existierenden Lösungsansätze vorgestellt. Der zweite Teilbereich umfasst den Schutz mobiler Agenten vor Angriffen durch ihre Ausführungsumgebung. Hier werden ebenfalls zunächst die möglichen Angriffe geschildert. Weiter wird ein Modell der Wirtsmaschine und des Angreifers erarbeitet, das es erlaubt, die möglichen Angriffe zu illustrieren. Unter Benutzung einer neuen Kategorisierung werden dann verwandte Arbeiten erläutert. Im Bereich des Schutzes vor einzelnen Angriffen werden existierende Verfahren untersucht, die bestimmte Angriffe gegen einen mobilen Agenten durch Vergleich mit Referenzzuständen entdecken können. Durch eine Kombination dieser Verfahren wird dann ein neues Verfahren entwickelt sowie diskutiert. Um mobile Agenten vor allen Angriffen zu schützen, wird danach das Gesamtproblem des Schutzes mobiler Agenten auf ein kleineres Problem reduziert indem die sog. Blackbox-Eigenschaft mobiler Agenten angenommen wird. Darauf folgend werden zwei Verfahrensklassen beschrieben, die diese Eigenschaft gewährleisten sollen. Für die Klasse der nicht-interaktiven Auswertung von verschlüsselten Funktionen werden drei existierende Mechanismen beschrieben. Um einen Nachteil der existierenden Verfahrensklasse zu überwinden, wird dann eine neue Verfahrensklasse vorgestellt, die aber eine Zeitbeschränkung des erzielten Schutzes aufweist. Abschließend wird ein neues Protokoll beschrieben, das den sog. Blackbox-Test verhindert.Mobile agents are program instances that are able to migrate between different, even unknown execution environments, and to fulfil tasks using local resources. This work examines the area of security between mobile agents and their execution environments. This area comprises two sub-areas. In the area of protection of the execution environment from attacks by malicious agents the possible attacks and the existing protection approaches are presented. The second sub-area comprises the protection of mobile agents from attacks by their execution environments. First, again the possible attacks are presented. Furthermore, a model of the host machine and the attacker is given that can illustrate these attacks. Using a new categorization, related approaches were examined. For the area of preventing single attacks, existing mechanisms are examined that are able to detect some attacks against a mobile agent by comparing the execution with a reference state. Then, a new approach is presented that results from a combination of these mechanisms. To protect mobile agents from all attacks, then the complete problem of protecting mobile agents is reduced to a smaller problem by assuming the so-called blackbox property of mobile agents. Then, two classes of mechanisms are described that achieve this property. For the class of non-interactive evaluation of encrypted functions, three existing mechanisms are described. To circumvent a disadvantage of the existing class of mechanisms, a new class is presented. This class shows a time-limitedness of the achieved protection. Finally, a new protocol is described that prevents the so-called blackbox test, an attack that is possible even for agents showing the blackbox property