Detecting TCP SYN Flood Attack in the Cloud

In this paper, an approach to protecting virtual machines (VMs) against TCP SYN flood attack in a cloud environment is proposed. An open source cloud platform Eucalyptus is deployed and experimentation is carried out on this setup. We investigate attacks emanating from one VM to another in a multi-tenancy cloud environment. Various scenarios of the attack are executed on a webserver VM. To detect such attacks from a cloud provider’s perspective, a security mechanism involving a packet sniffer, feature extraction process, a classifier and an alerting component is proposed and implemented. We experiment with k-nearest neighbor and artificial neural network for classification of the attack. The dataset obtained from the attacks on the webserver VM is passed through the classifiers. The artificial neural network produced a F1 score of 1 with the test cases implying a 100% detection accuracy of the malicious attack traffic from legitimate traffic. The proposed security mechanism shows promising results in detecting TCP SYN flood attack behaviors in the cloud

The need for online orientation for regional and distance students in higher education

Quite recently a number of studies and investigations have been made in the area of first year student retention and completion unveiling a number of interesting observations and interpretations. Many students face difficulties because of the sudden change in the eduscape, the transition from secondary schools to higher institutions made more difficult because of the mutually exclusive lifestyles and expectations. The lower pass rates in first year courses, is especially noticeable for special cohorts such as distance students, late registrants, and students based in peripheral campuses and centres. The paper investigates the need for an online orientation module for regional and distance students in higher education. This ICT based initiative is designed to address the new students’ anxieties and fears, and ease adaptation to higher education. The module allows students to understand the dynamic environment of higher education, be well informed about the academic and social issues, recognize the skills needed to succeed, be engaged with their courses and programmes, know where and who to go for help, and also have the ownership of the University. The analytics of a pilot study are discussed with the strengths, challenges and opportunities

Detecting denial of service attacks in the cloud

In this paper, an approach to protecting virtual machines (VMs) against denial of service (DoS) attacks in a cloud environment is proposed. An open source cloud computing platform (Eucalyptus) has been deployed, and experimentation was carried out on this setup. We investigate attacks emanating from one or more virtual machines (VMs) to another VM in a multi-tenancy cloud environment. Various types of DoS attacks are mounted on a webserver VM. To detect such attacks from a cloud provider’s perspective, an intrusion detection system (IDS) is needed. In this research we propose and implement an IDS which incorporates a packet sniffer, feature extractor and a classifier as part of its design. We have experimented with the one-class support vector machines (SVM) algorithm for classification of the attacks. The dataset containing time-based traffic flow features is passed through the classifier to detect the attack traffic from legitimate traffic. The proposed IDS design shows promising results in being able to detect the ICMP Flood, Ping-of-Death, UDP Flood, TCP SYN Flood, TCP LAND and DNS Flood attacks with high classification accuracies

Use of short message service for learning and student support in the Pacific region

The Pacific island communities face challenges such as digital divide, shoestring budgets, and escalating costs in the delivery of quality education to the people. In addition, the widely scattered nature of islands and communities requires proper communication infrastructure for the learners to access education. This chapter heralds the emergence of mobile learning (mLearning) initiatives in higher education in the Pacific region. It focuses on the introduction of mLearning at a University in the Pacific islands, which developed a fit-for-purpose mobile-learning infrastructure that primarily utilized the short message service (SMS). The university hosts an in-house setup open source SMS gateway that facilitates its custom-made SMS services. The SMS services developed serve the purpose for notifying students with important course information, exam timetable information, course mark information, and library book due dates, and students could also attempt quizzes in their courses via SMS. These SMS services are mostly provided as support services to overcome the challenges faced by the learners in the Pacific community

A Mobile Learning Journey in Pacific Education

This chapter essays an exciting and ambitious journey on mobile devices to support tertiary student learning in the Pacific region. With the Pacific region adapting to the dynamic global “eduscape”, new initiatives and pedagogical tools have been adopted by leading tertiary institutions in providing quality education in the region. The University of the South Pacific, owned by 12 member countries, is one such entity which looks into innovative and sustainable approaches to improving the accessibility of higher education in the region, relying on and leveraging heavily on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and eLearning. The mobile learning initiative is a branch of this greater ICT adoption which focuses on the use of mobile devices to support learning and teaching. The mobile learning initiative stands on three pillars: just-in-time, just-for-me and just-enough learning. The tool invariably supports learners inside and outside classrooms, in structured and unstructured learning spaces. At the University of the South Pacific, it has been 5 years since the inception of the mobile learning programme and four integrated approaches, namely, Short Message Service, edutainment, mobile course modules and tablet-based learning have been introduced to its education system. These tools have been developed in-house and customised to meet the demands of the regional institution. The strengths, challenges and opportunities of the mobile learning tools are highlighted with analytics, interventions and adaptive works from this short journey

Use of mobile devices for learning and student support in the Pacific region

The Pacific Island communities face challenges such as digital divide, shoestring budgets, and escalating costs in the delivery of quality education to their people. In addition, the widely scattered nature of islands and communities requires proper communication infrastructure for learners to access education. This chapter heralds the emergence of mobile learning (mLearning) initiatives in higher education in the Pacific region. As a case study, the study focuses on the introduction of mLearning at the University of the South Pacific (USP) in the Pacific which developed a fit-for-purpose mLearning infrastructure that primarily utilized the short message service (SMS) for its delivery and services. The USP hosts an in-house setup open-source SMS gateway that facilitates its custom-made SMS services such as course notifications, exam timetable information, and online quizzes. More recently with the proliferation of smartphones in the Pacific, USP has invested largely on web-based services and mobile apps. The chapter presents the recent journey into the use of smartphones and tablets to access education and promotes lifelong and life-wide learning in the Pacific