Ok Google, Start a Fire. IoT devices as witnesses and actors in fire investigations.

Fire incidents are amongst the most destructive events an investigator might encounter, completely transforming a scene with most of the objects left in ashes or highly damaged. Until now, fire investigations relied heavily on burn patterns and electrical artifacts to find possible starting locations, as well as witness statements and more recently witness imagery. As Internet of Things (IoT) devices, often seen as connected smart devices, become more common, the various sensors embedded within them provide a novel source of traces about the environment and events within. They collect and store information in different locations, often not touched by the event, such as remote servers (cloud) or companion smartphones, widening the investigation field for fire incidents. This work presents two controlled fire incidents in apartments that we furnished, equipped with IoT devices, and subsequently burnt. We studied the traces retrievable from the objects themselves after the incident, the companion smartphone apps, and the cloud and assessed the value of the information they conveyed. This research highlighted the pertinence to consider traces from IoT devices in the forensic process of fire investigation

Detection of PrPres in the spleen of hamsters used as an in vivo model for experimental TSE

In order to detect the presence of PrPres in the spleen of infected hamsters, we used a newly developed extraction method, before Western blot analysis, allowing the precipitation of PrPres. The NaPTA treatment applied before proteolysis causes a change in the PK cleavage site, resulting in the generation of larger PrPres fragments, acting on the N-terminal region of PrPres. By using this procedure, with some modifications, we succeeded in detecting the prion protein in the spleen and obtained the expected bands of prion protein, while in previous reports only very weak signals were obtained. Moreover, it was possible to confirm that the amount of detectable PrPres in the hamster spleen is very low, suggesting that the spleen plays a non-essential role for development of the disease in the hamster experimental model

Forensic Investigation of Google Assistant

Google Nest devices have seen a rise in demand especially with Google’s huge advantage in search engine results and a complex ecosystem that consists of a range of companion devices and compatible mobile applications integrated and interacting with its virtual assistant, Google Assistant. This study undertakes the forensics extraction and analysis of client-centric and cloud-native data remnants left behind on Android smartphones by the Google Home and Google Assistant apps used to control a Google Nest device. We identified the main database and file system storage location central to the Google Assistant ecosystem. From our analysis, we show forensic artifacts of interest associated with user account information, the chronology and copies of past voice conversations exchanged, and record of deleted data. The findings from this study describe forensic artifacts that could assist forensic investigators and can facilitate a criminal investigation

Efficacy of a diet containing caseinate hydrolysate on signs of stress in dogs

The purpose of this randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial was to evaluate 3 the efficacy of a diet containing caseinate hydrolysate (CH) on signs of stress in 2 4 groups of dogs (defined as Anxious and Non-anxious) using physiological (serum 5 cortisol and lysozyme, N:L ratios and heart rate) and behavioral parameters. 6 From an initial group of 40 female Beagle dogs, ranging in age from 10 months to 4 7 years (mean = 1.47 years; SD = 0.53) belonging to a dog colony, 32 were selected for 8 this study according to their level of anxiety. A group of 16 Anxious dogs and a group 9 of 16 Non-anxious dogs were identified. 10 A baseline period, aimed to obtain reference values of investigated parameters, 11 preceded the experimental phase. Both groups (Anxious and Non-anxious) were divided 12 into a treatment group, which received the diet containing CH, and a control group 13 which received a placebo diet (PD). Anxious CH and PD groups were balanced for 14 anxiety level. Each dog was evaluated 3 times a day at 4 weeks intervals (T1-T2-T3). 15 Each evaluation lasted 2 days and involved a Reactivity Evaluation Form (REF), a 16 blood sampling, heart rate recording and a 10 min behavioral video recording. Results 17 from REF scores showed that while at T1 Anxious dogs had significantly higher scores 18 (Mann-Whitney test: P<0.001) compared to Non-anxious dogs, no difference was found 19 between Anxious dogs fed with CH diet and Non-anxious fed with PD or CH diet at T3. 20 Behavioral observations evidenced some signs of improvement in Anxious dog fed with 21 CH diet. Cortisol level significantly decreased in Anxious dogs fed with CH diet 22 (Friedman test: P<0.05). Individual differences in physiological measures of stress 23 responses may have contributed to the large variability, making interpretation of these 24 measures difficult. These results suggest that CH may be used as a functional ingredient 25 alleviating stress in dogs

The future of Cybersecurity in Italy: Strategic focus area

This volume has been created as a continuation of the previous one, with the aim of outlining a set of focus areas and actions that the Italian Nation research community considers essential. The book touches many aspects of cyber security, ranging from the definition of the infrastructure and controls needed to organize cyberdefence to the actions and technologies to be developed to be better protected, from the identification of the main technologies to be defended to the proposal of a set of horizontal actions for training, awareness raising, and risk management

Survival gain in glioblastoma patients treated with dendritic cell immunotherapy is associated with increased NK but not CD8+ T cell activation in the presence of adjuvant temozolomide

In a two-stage phase II study, 24 patients with first diagnosis of glioblastoma (GBM) were treated with dendritic cell (DC) immunotherapy associated to standard radiochemotherapy with temozolomide (TMZ) followed by adjuvant TMZ. Three intradermal injections of mature DC loaded with autologous GBM lysate were administered before adjuvant TMZ, while 4 injections were performed during adjuvant TMZ. According to a two-stage Simon design, to proceed to the second stage progression-free survival (PFS) 12 months after surgery was expected in at least 8 cases enrolled in the first stage. Evidence of immune response and interaction with chemotherapy were investigated. After a median follow up of 17.4 months, 9 patients reached PFS12. In these patients (responders, 37.5%), DC vaccination induced a significant, persistent activation of NK cells, whose increased response was significantly associated with prolonged survival. CD8+ T cells underwent rapid expansion and priming but, after the first administration of adjuvant TMZ, failed to generate a memory status. Resistance to TMZ was associated with robust expression of the multidrug resistance protein ABCC3 in NK but not CD8+ T cells. The negative effect of TMZ on the formation of T cell-associated antitumor memory deserves consideration in future clinical trials including immunotherapy

Il Futuro della Cybersecurity in Italia: Ambiti Progettuali Strategici

Il presente volume nasce come continuazione del precedente, con l’obiettivo di delineare un insieme di ambiti progettuali e di azioni che la comunità nazionale della ricerca ritiene essenziali a complemento e a supporto di quelli previsti nel DPCM Gentiloni in materia di sicurezza cibernetica, pubblicato nel febbraio del 2017. La lettura non richiede particolari conoscenze tecniche; il testo è fruibile da chiunque utilizzi strumenti informatici o navighi in rete. Nel volume vengono considerati molteplici aspetti della cybersecurity, che vanno dalla definizione di infrastrutture e centri necessari a organizzare la difesa alle azioni e alle tecnologie da sviluppare per essere protetti al meglio, dall’individuazione delle principali tecnologie da difendere alla proposta di un insieme di azioni orizzontali per la formazione, la sensibilizzazione e la gestione dei rischi. Gli ambiti progettuali e le azioni, che noi speriamo possano svilupparsi nei prossimi anni in Italia, sono poi accompagnate da una serie di raccomandazioni agli organi preposti per affrontare al meglio, e da Paese consapevole, la sfida della trasformazione digitale. Le raccomandazioni non intendono essere esaustive, ma vanno a toccare dei punti che riteniamo essenziali per una corretta implementazione di una politica di sicurezza cibernetica a livello nazionale. Politica che, per sua natura, dovrà necessariamente essere dinamica e in continua evoluzione in base ai cambiamenti tecnologici, normativi, sociali e geopolitici. All’interno del volume, sono riportati dei riquadri con sfondo violetto o grigio; i primi sono usati nel capitolo introduttivo e nelle conclusioni per mettere in evidenza alcuni concetti ritenuti importanti, i secondi sono usati negli altri capitoli per spiegare il significato di alcuni termini tecnici comunemente utilizzati dagli addetti ai lavori. In conclusione, ringraziamo tutti i colleghi che hanno contribuito a questo volume: un gruppo di oltre 120 ricercatori, provenienti da circa 40 tra Enti di Ricerca e Università, unico per numerosità ed eccellenza, che rappresenta il meglio della ricerca in Italia nel settore della cybersecurity. Un grazie speciale va a Gabriella Caramagno e ad Angela Miola che hanno contribuito a tutte le fasi di produzione del libro. Tra i ringraziamenti ci fa piacere aggiungere il supporto ottenuto dai partecipanti al progetto FILIERASICURA