Detecting Hardware-assisted Hypervisor Rootkits within Nested Virtualized Environments

Virtual machine introspection (VMI) is intended to provide a secure and trusted platform from which forensic information can be gathered about the true behavior of malware within a guest. However, it is possible for malware to escape a guest into the host and for hypervisor rootkits, such as BluePill, to stealthily transition a native OS into a virtualized environment. This research examines the effectiveness of selected detection mechanisms against hardware-assisted virtualization rootkits (HAV-R) within a nested virtualized environment. It presents the design, implementation, analysis, and evaluation of a hypervisor rootkit detection system which exploits both processor and translation lookaside buffer-based mechanisms to detect hypervisor rootkits within a variety of nested virtualized systems. It evaluates the effects of different types of virtualization on hypervisor rootkit detection and explores the effectiveness in-guest HAV-R obfuscation efforts. The results provide convincing evidence that the HAV-Rs are detectable in all SVMI scenarios examined, regardless of HAV-R or virtualization type. Also, that the selected detection techniques are effective at detection of HAV-R within nested virtualized environments, and that the type of virtualization implemented in a VMI system has minimal to no effect on HAV-R detection. Finally, it is determined that in-guest obfuscation does not successfully obfuscate the existence of HAV-R

Results of the Australian geodetic VLBI experiment

The 250-2500 km baseline vectors between radio telescopes located at Tidbinbilla (DSS43) near Canberra, Parkes, Fleurs (X3) near Sydney, Hobart and Alice Springs were determined from radio interferometric observations of extragalactic sources. The observations were made during two 24-hour sessions on 26 April and 3 May 1982, and one 12-hour night-time session on 28 April 1982. The 275 km Tidbinbilla - Parkes baseline was measured with an accuracy of plus or minus 6 cm. The remaining baselines were measured with accuracies ranging from 15 cm to 6 m. The higher accuracies were achieved for the better instrumented sites of Tidbinbilla, Parkes and Fleurs. The data reduction technique and results of the experiment are discussed

Plasticised regenerated silk/gold nanorods hybrids as sealant and bio-piezoelectric materials

Manual and mechanical suturing are currently the gold standard for bowel anastomosis. If tissue approximation fails, anastomotic leaks occur. Anastomotic leaks may have catastrophic consequences. The development of a fully absorbable, biocompatible sealant material based on a bio-ink silk fibroin can reduce the chance of anastomotic leaks. We have produced a Ca-modified plasticised regenerated silk (RS) with gold nanorods sealant. This sealant was applied to anastomosed porcine intestine. Water absorption from wet tissue substrate applied compressive strains on hybrid RS films. This compression results in a sealant effect on anastomosis. The increased toughness of the hybrid plasticised RS resulted in the designing of a bio-film with superior elongation at break (i.e., ≈200%) and bursting pressure. We have also reported structure-dependent piezoelectricity of the RS film that shows a piezoelectric effect out of the plane. We hope that in the future, bowel anastomosis can be simplified by providing a multifunctional bio-film that makes feasible the mechanical tissue joint without the need for specific tools and could be used in piezoelectric sealant heads

Simple and efficient moving horizon estimation based on the fast gradient method

By now many results with respect to the fast and efficient implementation of model predictive control exist. However, for moving horizon estimation, only a few results are available. We present a simple solution algorithm tailored to moving horizon estimation of linear, discrete time systems. In a first step the problem is reformulated such that only the states remain as optimization variables, i.e. process and measurement noise are eliminated from the optimization problem. This reformulation enables the use of the fast gradient method, which has recently received a lot of attention for the solution of model predictive control problems. In contrast to the model predictive control case, the Hessian matrix is time- varying in moving horizon estimation, due to the time-varying nature of the arrival cost. Therefore, we outline a tailored method to compute online the lower and upper eigenvalues of the Hessian matrix required by the here considered fast gradient method. In addition, we discuss stopping criteria and various implementation details. An example illustrates the efficiency of the proposed algorithm

Using a morpho-functional approach to assess phytoplankton dynamics in two adjacent high-mountain lakes: a 10-year survey

Colbricon Superiore and Inferiore are two small adjacent high-mountain lakes located in the Paneveggio Natural Park (Italy). The lakes differ by size and depth while sharing the same bedrock setting and catchment basin. Changes in the phytoplankton communities were studied over a 10-years period to individuate which environmental variables would determine the main differences in biotic assemblages across time and between the two lakes.The study was conducted with fortnightly samplings, assessing the density and biomass of algal taxa. Relationships of each of the biological variables with water temperature, pH, conductivity, transparency, water level, previous week rainfall, and relative water column stability were analyzed by correlation and regression analyses, cluster analysis, and by canonical correspondence analysis. The most significant variables resulted air temperature, hydrologic water level and pH. The smaller Colbricon Inferiore had about double the amount of phytoplankton density and biomass than did the larger Colbricon Superiore. The same lake had higher diversity and lower evenness in structure of the phytoplankton community. Notwithstanding their proximity each lake appears to follow independent species composition dynamics, however parallel patterns were interestingly revealed when data were analyzed by pooling taxa into morpho-functional groups. Morpho-functional groups (MFGs) 1b, 3a, 6b, 7a, 9b were differentially most abundant in warm periods, while 2c, 3b, 11c, 5e, 10a prevailed in cold years. MFGs 1b, 2d, 3a and 3b were more characteristic of Lake Colbricon Superiore, while Colbricon Inferiore preferentially featured MFGs 5a, 5e, 9a, 9b, 10a, 11a and 8a. The role of the meteo-climatic parameters was pointed out in driving the different patterns observed in the two lakes

Coarse Grained Density Functional Theories for Metallic Alloys: Generalized Coherent Potential Approximations and Charge Excess Functional Theory

The class of the Generalized Coherent Potential Approximations (GCPA) to the Density Functional Theory (DFT) is introduced within the Multiple Scattering Theory formalism for dealing with, ordered or disordered, metallic alloys. All GCPA theories are based on a common ansatz for the kinetic part of the Hohenberg-Kohn functional and each theory of the class is specified by an external model concerning the potential reconstruction. The GCPA density functional consists of marginally coupled local contributions, does not depend on the details of the charge density and can be exactly rewritten as a function of the appropriate charge multipole moments associated with each lattice site. A general procedure based on the integration of the 'qV' laws is described that allows for the explicit construction the same function. The coarse grained nature of the GCPA density functional implies great computational advantages and is connected with the O(N) scalability of GCPA algorithms. Moreover, it is shown that a convenient truncated series expansion of the GCPA functional leads to the Charge Excess Functional (CEF) theory [E. Bruno, L. Zingales and Y. Wang, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 91}, 166401 (2003)] which here is offered in a generalized version that includes multipolar interactions. CEF and the GCPA numerical results are compared with status of art LAPW full-potential density functional calculations for 62, bcc- and fcc-based, ordered CuZn alloys, in all the range of concentrations. These extensive tests show that the discrepancies between GCPA and CEF are always within the numerical accuracy of the calculations, both for the site charges and the total energies. Furthermore, GCPA and CEF very carefully reproduce the LAPW site charges and the total energy trends.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figure

Intranasal administration of RSV antigen-expressing MCMV elicits robust tissue-resident effector and effector memory CD8+ T cells in the lung

Cytomegalovirus vectors are promising delivery vehicles for vaccine strategies that aim to elicit effector CD8+ T cells. To determine how the route of immunization affects CD8+ T cell responses in the lungs of mice vaccinated with a murine cytomegalovirus vector expressing the respiratory syncytial virus matrix (M) protein, we infected CB6F1 mice via the intranasal or intraperitoneal route and evaluated the M-specific CD8+ T cell response at early and late time points. We found that intranasal vaccination generated robust and durable tissue-resident effector and effector memory CD8+ T cell populations that were undetectable after intraperitoneal vaccination. The generation of these antigen-experienced cells by intranasal vaccination resulted in earlier T cell responses, interferon gamma secretion, and viral clearance after respiratory syncytial virus challenge. Collectively, these findings validate a novel approach to vaccination that emphasizes the route of delivery as a key determinant of immune priming at the site of vulnerability