An Approach to Rules based Fraud Management in Emerging Converged Networks

This paper examines the problem of managing fraud in emerging converged networks and presents work in progress on implementing a rules based fraud detection system for deployment in a testbed environment. This is done by examining the state of the art in telecoms fraud management and adapting this to emerging IP-based networks and services. Features of this fraud detection implementation include the use of flexible data formats and spreadsheet/workbookbased rules specification with the capability to apply arbitrarily complex rules

A Trust Overlay Architecture and Protocol for Enhanced Protection against Spam

The effectiveness of current anti-spam systems is limited by the ability of spammers to adapt to new filtering techniques and the lack of incentive for mail domains to filter outgoing spam. This paper describes a new approach to spam protection based on distributed trust management. This is motivated by the fact that the SMTP mail infrastructure is managed in a distributed way by a community of mail domain administrators. A trust overlay architecture and a new protocol are presented. The TOPAS protocol specifies how experiences and recommendations are communicated between a spam filter at each mail domain and its associated trust manager, and between trust managers of different mail servers. A technique for improving mail filtering using these trust measures is also described. Initial simulations indicate the potential of this approach to improve rates of false positives and false negatives in anti-spam systems

Flexible Multi-Service Telecommunications Accounting System

Due to market deregulation and technological advances, a multi-service broadband environment is emerging, generating a requirement for a new approach to pricing systems. This paper presents such an approach and describes a working implementation of an innovative and flexible multi-service accounting system. The system is based on a mature understanding of the nature of charging algorithms, and is implemented as a set of interoperating distributed components. At the heart of the system is a rating engine built around a service portfolio, tying together spreadsheet specification of arbitrarily complex services, charging algorithms and tariff tables. The very wide range of service delivery technologies in existence motivates the design of a system that is independent of proprietary formats and based on a dynamic service portfolio structure and a generic service detail record definition

Integrating Players, Reputation and Ranking to Manage Cheating in MMOGs

In this paper, we propose an approach that uses in-game reputation as a solution to the problem of cheating in massively multiplayer online games. What constitutes cheating is however quite context-specific and subjective, and there is no universal view. Thus our approach aims to adjust to the particular forms of cheating to which players object rather than deciding a priori which forms of cheating should be controlled. The main feature of our approach is an architecture and model for maintaining player-based and context-appropriate trust and reputation measures, with the integration of these into the game’s ranking system. When an avatar loses reputation, our approach intervenes to reduce its ranking. It is envisaged that players will come to attach value to reputation in its own right. We also present the results of relatively large-scale simulations of various scenarios involving sequences of encounters between players, with an initial implementation of our reputation and ranking model in place, to observe the impact on cheaters (and non-cheaters)

Securing mobile services

This paper reports on some initial findings of the EU IST SEINIT project with respect to the security of end-to-end services over the wireless access and fixed network and captures the state of the art in secure mobile services infrastructures

A service-centric approach to access control and monitoring based on distributed trust

A service-oriented approach to dynamic refinement of security enforcement is described in this paper. This is based on a closed loop feedback system where live distributed trust measures are used to adapt access control settings in a changing threat environment. A general trust overlay architecture and model are presented. Some specific application scenarios are discussed, in particular spam filtering and distributed intrusion detection in mobile ad hoc networks. It is shown using simulations of some specific scenarios that this dynamic system is robust and has the potential to enhance security and access control efficiency

Flexible Multi-Service Telecommunications Accounting System

Due to market deregulation and technological advances, a multi-service broadband environment is emerging, generating a requirement for a new approach to pricing systems. This paper presents such an approach and describes a working implementation of an innovative and flexible multi-service accounting system. The system is based on a mature understanding of the nature of charging algorithms, and is implemented as a set of interoperating distributed components. At the heart of the system is a rating engine built around a service portfolio, tying together spreadsheet specification of arbitrarily complex services, charging algorithms and tariff tables. The very wide range of service delivery technologies in existence motivates the design of a system that is independent of proprietary formats and based on a dynamic service portfolio structure and a generic service detail record definition

Addressing Fraud Detection and Management in Next-Generation Telecommunications Networks

This paper examines the problem of detecting and managing fraud in next-generation telecommunications networks and presents work in progress on implementing a rules-based fraud detection system. The motivations for committing fraud and the different types of fraud that can be perpetrated in next generation networks are examined. The fraud detection system provides an interface that allows users to enter rules that describe possible fraud scenarios. If a rule proves true, an alert is raised indicating that the analyzed record warrants more attention. Features of the system include the use of flexible data formats, spreadsheet based rules specification and the deployment of data reduction techniques to efficiently profile user behavior