Motivation and Performance, Blog 6

Student blog posts from the Great VCU Bike Race Book

Modeling location for pervasive environments

The representation of spaces, locations and the entities they contain is of great importance to location aware systems and pervasive computing scenarios. There has been an active research community in developing many diverse models of location, resulting in significant progress in the area. Various types of location model have evolved through experiment and experience however there still remains many challenges to be met by the research community. This paper aims to highlight previous trends in location modeling, discuss the research challenges ahead and to outline the initial design of a location model for the Strathclyde Context Infrastructure [?]

The Fundamental Duality Theorem of Balanced Growth

In this paper we demonstrate that a simple duality relation underlies balanced growth models with non-joint production. Included in this class of models is the standard neoclassical growth model and endogenous growth models that admit balanced growth paths. In all of these models, the optimal transformation frontier and the factor price frontier take precisely the same mathematical formulation. Studying these identical frontiers in the context of the different models provides new insights into the relative structures of these models, the role of savings, and the nature of dynamic efficiency in each.

Insight:an application of information visualisation techniques to digital forensics investigations

As digital devices are becoming ever more ubiquitous in our day to day lives, more of our personal information and behavioural patterns are recorded on these devices. The volume of data held on these devices is substantial, and people investigating these datasets are facing growing backlog as a result. This is worsened by the fact that many software tools used in this area are text based and do not lend themselves to rapid processing by humans.This body of work looks at several case studies in which these datasets were visualised in attempt to expedite processing by humans. A number of different 2D and 3D visualisation methods were trialled, and the results from these case studies fed into the design of a final tool which was tested with the assistance of a group of individuals studying Digital Forensics.The results of this research show some encouraging results which indicate visualisation may assist analysis in some aspects, and indicates useful paths for future work

SpaceSemantics: an architecture for modeling environments

The notion of modeling location is fundamental to location awareness in ubiquitous computing environments. The investigation of models and the integration with the myriad of location sensing technologies makes for a challenging discipline. Despite notable development of location models, we believe that many challenges remain unresolved. Complexity and scalability, diverse environments coupled with various sensors and managing the privacy and security of sensitive information are open issues. In this paper we discuss our previous experience combining location sensing with mobile agents and how the lessons learnt have lead to the conception of SpaceSemantics, an open architecture for modeling environments

Dark clouds on the horizon:the challenge of cloud forensics

We introduce the challenges to digital forensics introduced by the advent and adoption of technologies, such as encryption, secure networking, secure processors and anonymous routing. All potentially render current approaches to digital forensic investigation unusable. We explain how the Cloud, due to its global distribution and multi-jurisdictional nature, exacerbates these challenges. The latest developments in the computing milieu threaten a complete “evidence blackout” with severe implications for the detection, investigation and prosecution of cybercrime. In this paper, we review the current landscape of cloud-based forensics investigations. We posit a number of potential solutions. Cloud forensic difficulties can only be addressed if we acknowledge its socio-technological nature, and design solutions that address both human and technological dimensions. No firm conclusion is drawn; rather the objective is to present a position paper, which will stimulate debate in the area and move the discipline of digital cloud forensics forward. Thus, the paper concludes with an invitation to further informed debate on this issue

An assessment of blockchain consensus protocols for the Internet of Things

In a few short years the Internet of Things has become an intrinsic part of everyday life, with connected devices included in products created for homes, cars and even medical equipment. But its rapid growth has created several security problems, with respect to the transmission and storage of vast amounts of customers data, across an insecure heterogeneous collection of networks. The Internet of Things is therefore creating a unique set of risk and problems that will affect most households. From breaches in confidentiality, which could allow users to be snooped on, through to failures in integrity, which could lead to consumer data being compromised; devices are presenting many security challenges to which consumers are ill equipped to protect themselves from. Moreover, when this is coupled with the heterogeneous nature of the industry, and the interoperable and scalability problems it becomes apparent that the Internet of Things has created an increased attack surface from which security vulnerabilities may be easily exploited. However, it has been conjectured that blockchain may provide a solution to the Internet of Things security and scalability problems. Because of blockchain’s immutability, integrity and scalability, it is possible that its architecture could be used for the storage and transfer of Internet of Things data. Within this paper a cross section of blockchain consensus protocols have been assessed against a requirement framework, to establish each consensus protocols strengths and weaknesses with respect to their potential implementation in an Internet of Things blockchain environment

On the digital forensic analysis of the Firefox browser via recovery of SQLite artifacts from unallocated space

A technique and supporting tool for the recovery of browsing activity (both stored and deleted) from current and recent versions of the Firefox web-browser is presented. The generality of the technique is discussed: It is applicable to any software that uses the popular SQLite embedded database engine such as the Apple Safari web-browser and many Android apps

Reducing risky security behaviours:utilising affective feedback to educate users

Despite the number of tools created to help end-users reduce risky security behaviours, users are still falling victim to online attacks. This paper proposes a browser extension utilising affective feedback to provide warnings on detection of risky behaviour. The paper provides an overview of behaviour considered to be risky, explaining potential threats users may face online. Existing tools developed to reduce risky security behaviours in end-users have been compared, discussing the success rate of various methodologies. Ongoing research is described which attempts to educate users regarding the risks and consequences of poor security behaviour by providing the appropriate feedback on the automatic recognition of risky behaviour. The paper concludes that a solution utilising a browser extension is a suitable method of monitoring potentially risky security behaviour. Ultimately, future work seeks to implement an affective feedback mechanism within the browser extension with the aim of improving security awareness

Assessing the impact of affective feedback on end-user security awareness

A lack of awareness regarding online security behaviour can leave users and their devices vulnerable to compromise. This paper highlights potential areas where users may fall victim to online attacks, and reviews existing tools developed to raise users’ awareness of security behaviour. An ongoing research project is described, which provides a combined monitoring solution and affective feedback system, designed to provide affective feedback on automatic detection of risky security behaviour within a web browser. Results gained from the research conclude an affective feedback mechanism in a browser-based environment, can promote general awareness of online security