Attack Evolution: Identifying Attack Evolution Characteristics to Predict Future Attacks

Several approaches can be considered to predict the evolution of computer security attacks, such as statistical approaches and ed Teams. This research proposes a third and completely novel approach for predicting the evolution of an attack threat. Our goal is to move from the destructive nature and malicious intent associated with an attack to the root of what an attack creation is: having successfully solved a complex problem. By approaching attacks from the perspective of the creator, we will chart the way in which attacks are developed over time and attempt to extract evolutionary patterns. These patterns will eventually be used for the prediction of future attacks

Self-Assembled Materials as Novel Nanotechnology-Enabled Ultrafiltration Membranes

Nanotechnology is being used to enhance conventional ceramic and polymeric water treatment membrane materials through various avenues. Among the numerous concepts proposed, the most promising to date include zeolitic and catalytic nanoparticle coated ceramic membranes, hybrid inorganic-organic nanocomposite membranes, and bio-inspired membranes such as hybrid protein-polymer biomimetic membranes, aligned nanotube membranes, and isoporous block copolymer membranes. Zeolitic and catalytic membranes appear reasonably far from commercial reality and offer small to moderate performance enhancements. Overall, bio-inspired membranes are farthest from commercial reality, but offer the most promise for performance enhancements; however, nanocomposite membranes offering significant performance enhancements are already commercially available. Isoporous block copolymer membranes represent a fully-polymeric analog to the ordered structure associated with bio-inspired materials and are able to be produced through conventional fabrication methods. These membranes represent a possible route towards more precise particle and macromolecular separations, which are of interest across many industries. Herein, membranes with vertically-aligned nanopores are formed from a poly(isoprene-b-styrene-b-4 vinyl pyridine) triblock terpolymer via a hybrid self-assembly/nonsolvent induced phase separation process. Polymer concentration, solvent composition, and evaporation time in the fabrication process were varied to tailor ordering of the selective layer and produce enhanced water permeability. Water permeability was doubled through the optimization process, while maintaining the surface morphology and, thus, the resulting selectivity of the membrane. This was achieved by increasing volatile solvent concentration, thereby decreasing the evaporation period required for self-assembly. Fine-tuning was required, however, since overly-rapid evaporation did not yield the desired pore structure. Transport models, used to relate the in-situ structure to the performance of these materials, revealed narrowing of pores and blocking by the dense region below. It was shown that these vertically aligned nanoporous membranes compare favorably with commercial ultrafiltration membranes formed by conventional phase inversion and track-etching processes, which suggests there is practical value in further developing and optimizing these materials for specific industrial separations

Relating fouling behavior and cake layer formation of alginic acid to the physiochemical properties of thin film composite and nanocomposite seawater RO membranes

In this study, fouling behavior of alginic acid onto four types of hand-cast and one commercially-available seawater reverse osmosis membranes was investigated. Hand-cast membranes included a polyamide thin film composite and a zeolite-polyamide thin film nanocomposite, as well as poly(vinyl alcohol) coated versions of both. Flux decline due to fouling and the structural features of the fouling layers formed during seawater desalination experiments were analyzed using classic Kozeny–Carman cake filtration theory along with a more recently developed crossflow model. Initial rates of flux decline correlated strongly with membrane permeability and root-mean-squared roughness and moderately with alginate–membrane interfacial free energy. The porosity (i.e., hydraulic resistance) of the fouling layers correlated strongly with deionized water contact angle and moderately with surface area difference of the membranes. The contact angle of the membranes also heavily impacted the fouling layer mass and thickness. Membranes with high permeability, strong alginate–membrane interfacial energy of adhesion, and hydrophobic surfaces had the highest propensity for fouling by low porosity, high specific resistance cake layers. Results indicate that reverse osmosis membranes should be produced with hydrophilic, smooth, and large peak-to-peak surfaces in order to reduce flux decline due to cake layer formation