Compartmentation policies for Android apps:A combinatorial optimization approach

Some smartphone platforms such as Android have a distinctive message passing system that allows for sophisticated interactions among app components, both within and across app boundaries. This gives rise to various security and privacy risks, including not only intentional collusion attacks via permission re-delegation but also inadvertent disclosure of information and service misuse through confused deputy attacks. In this paper, we revisit the perils of app coexistence in the same platform and propose a risk mitigation mechanism based on segregating apps into isolated groups following classical security compartmentation principles. Compartments can be implemented using lightweight approaches such as Inter-Component Communication (ICC) firewalling or through virtualization, effectively fencing off each group of apps. We then leverage recent works on quantified risk metrics for Android apps to couch compartmentation as a combinatorial optimization problem akin to the classical bin packing or knapsack problems. We study a number of simple yet effective numerical optimization heuristics, showing that very good compartmentation solutions can be obtained for the problem sizes expected in current’s mobile environments

Hindering data theft with encrypted data trees

Data theft is a major threat for modern organizations with potentially large economic consequences. Although these attacks may well originate outside an organization’s information systems, the attacker—or else an insider—must even-tually make contact with the system where the information resides and extract it. In this work, we propose a scheme that hinders unauthorized data extraction by modifying the basic file system primitives used to access files. Intuitively, our proposal emulates the chains used to protect valuable items in certain clothing shopping centers, where shoplifting is prevented by forcing the thief to steal the whole rack of items. We achieve this by encrypting sensitive files using nonces (i.e., pseudorandom numbers used only once) as keys. Such nonces are available, also in encrypted form, in other objects of the file system. The system globally resembles a distributed Merkle hash tree, in such a way that getting access to a file requires previous access to a number of other files. This forces any potential attacker to extract not only the targeted sensitive information, but also all the files chained to it that are necessary to compute the associated key. Further-more, our scheme incorporates a probabilistic rekeying mechanism to limit the damage that might be caused by patient extractors. We report experimental results measuring the time overhead introduced by our proposal and compare it with the effort an attacker would need to successfully extract information from the system. Our results show that the scheme increases substantially the effort required by an insider, while the introduced overhead is feasible for standard computing platforms

Detecting Targeted Smartphone Malware with Behavior-Triggering Stochastic Models

none4sinoneGuillermo Suarez-Tangil; Mauro Conti; Juan E. Tapiador; and Pedro Peris-LopezGuillermo Suarez, Tangil; Conti, Mauro; Juan E., Tapiador; Pedro Peris, Lope

Environmental Scan of Web-based Consumer Information on the Risk of HPV-Related Diseases in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

https://openworks.mdanderson.org/sumexp23/1118/thumbnail.jp

Bovipain-2, the falcipain-2 ortholog, is expressed in intraerythrocytic stages of the tick-transmitted hemoparasite Babesia bovis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cysteine proteases have been shown to be highly relevant for Apicomplexan parasites. In the case of <it>Babesia bovis</it>, a tick-transmitted hemoparasite of cattle, inhibitors of these enzymes were shown to hamper intraerythrocytic replication of the parasite, underscoring their importance for survival.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Four papain-like cysteine proteases were found to be encoded by the <it>B. bovis </it>genome using the MEROPS database. One of them, the ortholog of <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>falcipain-2, here named bovipain-2, was further characterized. Bovipain-2 is encoded in <it>B. bovis </it>chromosome 4 by an ORF of 1.3 kb, has a predicted molecular weight of 42 kDa, and is hydrophilic with the exception of a transmembrane region. It has orthologs in several other apicomplexans, and its predicted amino acid sequence shows a high degree of conservation among several <it>B. bovis </it>isolates from North and South America. Synteny studies demonstrated that the <it>bovipain-2 </it>gene has expanded in the genomes of two related piroplasmids, <it>Theileria parva </it>and <it>T. annulata</it>, into families of 6 and 7 clustered genes respectively. The <it>bovipain-2 g</it>ene is transcribed in <it>in vitro </it>cultured intra-erythrocyte forms of a virulent and an attenuated <it>B. bovis </it>strain from Argentina, and has no introns, as shown by RT-PCR followed by sequencing. Antibodies against a recombinant form of bovipain-2 recognized two parasite protein bands of 34 and 26 kDa, which coincide with the predicted sizes of the pro-peptidase and mature peptidase, respectively. Immunofluorescence studies showed an intracellular localization of bovipain-2 in the middle-rear region of <it>in vitro </it>cultured merozoites, as well as diffused in the cytoplasm of infected erythrocytes. Anti-bovipain-2 antibodies also reacted with <it>B. bigemina</it>-infected erythrocytes giving a similar pattern, which suggests cross-reactivity among these species. Antibodies in sera of two out of six <it>B. bovis</it>-experimentally infected bovines tested, reacted specifically with recombinant bovipain-2 in immunoblots, thus demonstrating expression and immunogenicity during bovine-infecting stages.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Overall, we present the characterization of bovipain-2 and demonstrate its <it>in vitro </it>and <it>in vivo </it>expression in virulent and attenuated strains. Given the involvement of apicomplexan cysteine proteases in essential parasite functions, bovipain-2 constitutes a new vaccine candidate and potential drug target for bovine babesiosis.</p

Electron emission in collisions between dressed Alq+ ions with He targets

Experimental and theoretical results are presented for electron emission in collisions between dressed Alq+ ions and atomic He targets. The experimental data are compared with a four-body CTMC model and two distorted wave models, namely the CDW and CDW-EIS. The contribution to total electron emission spectra from the ionisation of each collision center and as well as the simultaneous ionisation can be assessed separately.Fil: Monti, Juan Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario (i); ArgentinaFil: Fiol, Juan. Comisiã³n Nacional de Energã­a Atã³mica. Gerencia del Area Investigaciã³n y Aplicaciones No Nucleares. Gerencia de Fã­sica (centro Atã³mico Balseiro). Divisiã³n Colisiones Atã³micas; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Area de Investigación y Aplicaciones No Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche); ArgentinaFil: Fregenal, Daniel Eduardo. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Area de Investigación y Aplicaciones No Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche); ArgentinaFil: Fainstein, Pablo Daniel. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Area de Investigación y Aplicaciones No Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche); ArgentinaFil: Rivarola, Roberto Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario (i); ArgentinaFil: Wolff, W.. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: E. Horsdal. University Aarhus; DinamarcaFil: Bernardi, Guillermo Carlos. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Area de Investigación y Aplicaciones No Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche); ArgentinaFil: Suarez, Sergio Gabriel. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Area de Investigación y Aplicaciones No Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche); Argentin

Extraction of the frequency moments of spectral densities from imaginary-time correlation function data

We introduce an exact framework to compute the positive frequency moments $M^{(\alpha)}(\mathbf{q})=\braket{\omega^\alpha}$ of different dynamic properties from imaginary-time quantum Monte Carlo data. As a practical example, we obtain the first five moments of the dynamic structure factor $S(\mathbf{q},\omega)$ of the uniform electron gas at the electronic Fermi temperature based on \emph{ab initio} path integral Monte Carlo simulations. We find excellent agreement with known sum rules for $\alpha=1,3$, and, to our knowledge, present the first results for $\alpha=2,4,5$. Our idea can be straightforwardly generalized to other dynamic properties such as the single-particle spectral function $A(\mathbf{q},\omega)$, and will be useful for a number of applications, including the study of ultracold atoms, exotic warm dense matter, and condensed matter systems

A Systematic Review of Clinical Practice Guidelines for Cancer Screening in Patients with Autoimmune Diseases

https://openworks.mdanderson.org/sumexp23/1110/thumbnail.jp

Current Status of the Insecticide Resistance in Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) from Mexico

The mosquito Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) is the primary vector of dengue in Mexico and lately virus Chikungunya, although Aedes albopictus is widely distributed; its role in both diseases’ transmission has not been confirmed. The control of mosquitoes in Mexico includes source reduction consisting in the elimination of containers that are favorable sites for oviposition and development of the aquatic stage. The use of insecticides is to control larvae and adulticides as outdoor ultra-low volume applications and indoor residual spray and more recently impregnated materials. The health department regulates the use of insecticides, and such regulations are revised and adapted over time. Since 1999, the vector control regulations gave preference to the use of pyrethroids, a permethrin-based formulation to control adult forms. This insecticide was used as the only adulticide in Mexico for more than 10 years. The consequences of this actions have evolved in a widespread and strong resistance to other insecticides, mainly pyrethroids. We include in this revision evidence of resistance reported in Ae. aegypti in Mexico

Comorbidities in a sample of adults with HIV in Puerto Rico: an exploratory study.

Background: Puerto Rico is among the areas with the highest estimated rates of people living with HIV in the United States. Despite the epidemiologic data available, there is limited real-world information that can help understand the comorbidities of people with HIV. In this study, we describe common comorbidities among adults with HIV attending treatment clinics in Puerto Rico. Methods: An exploratory, retrospective, cross-sectional study was conducted at five HIV clinics in Puerto Rico. A random sample of medical records was reviewed. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize patient demographics, morbidity, and clinical characteristics. Multivariate analyses were conducted to explore comorbidities by age and sex. Results: A total of 250 (179 men; 71 women) medical records were reviewed. Participants\u27 mean age was 47.9 years and on average they had been living with HIV for 9 years. Most (97.6%) had at least one comorbidity. The most common comorbidities were dyslipidemia and hypertension. Men were more likely to have been diagnosed with alcohol misuse while women were more likely to have been diagnosed with obesity, human papillomavirus (HPV), hypothyroidism, and osteoporosis. Participants younger than 50 years of age were more likely to have history of alcohol misuse while older individuals (50 years and old) were more likely to have been diagnosed with dyslipidemia, hypertension, and diabetes. Adjusting by sex and age, women were more likely to have been diagnosed with obesity and depression and those older than 50 years were more likely to have had a diagnosis of dyslipidemia, hypertension, HPV, and diabetes. Conclusions: This is one of the few studies assessing comorbidities among adults with HIV in Puerto Rico, among Latino/Hispanics within the United States, and Latin America. Consistent with other studies, cardiovascular diseases are common among adults with HIV in Puerto Rico. Findings support the need for awareness and real-world evidence about comorbidities among people with HIV when implementing screenings and prescribing drugs