An investigation into the efficacy of URL content filtering systems

Content filters are used to restrict to restrict minors from accessing to online content deemed inappropriate. While much research and evaluation has been done on the efficiency of content filters, there is little in the way of empirical research as to their efficacy. The accessing of inappropriate material by minors, and the role content filtering systems can play in preventing the accessing of inappropriate material, is largely assumed with little or no evidence. This thesis investigates if a content filter implemented with the stated aim of restricting specific Internet content from high school students achieved the goal of stopping students from accessing the identified material. The case is of a high school in Western Australia where the logs of a proxy content filter that included all Internet traffic requested by students were examined to determine the efficacy of the content filter. Using text extraction and pattern matching techniques to look for evidence of access to restricted content within this study, the results demonstrate that the belief that content filtering systems reliably prevent access to restricted content is misplaced. in this study there is direct evidence of circumvention of the content filter. This is single case study in one school and as such, the results are not generalisable to all schools or even through subsequent systems that replaced the content filter examined in this study, but it does raise the issue of the ability of these content filter systems to restrict content from high school students. Further studies across multiple schools and more complex circumvention methods would be required to identify if circumvention of content filters is a widespread issue

Securing a wireless network with EAP-TLS: perception and realities of itsimplementation

In the arena of wireless security, EAP-TLS is considered one of the most secure protocols. However since its inception the uptake has been poor and the investigation into the reasons for this are sparse. There is an industry perception that EAP-TLS is complex as well as difficult to configure and manage. One of the major barriers is in the use of public key infrastructure and the perceived difficulties in its application. The paper discusses why it is seemingly difficult to implement and how this may differ from the reality of its implementation. This premise is investigated using Windows Server 2003 to provide an argument that is in contradiction to the perception. This paper demonstrates that the processes with which the technology can now be applied have significantly improved through automation of public key infrastructure configuration and deployment

Network security isn\u27t all fun and games: an analysis of information transmitted whilst playing Team Fortress 2

In the world of online gaming, information is exchanged as a matter of course. What information is exchanged behind the scenes is something that is not obvious to the casual user. People who play these games trust that the applications they are using are securely written and in this case, communicate securely. This paper looks at the traffic that is transmitted by the game Team Fortress 2 and incidentally the supporting authentication traffic of the Steam network. It was discovered through packet analysis that there is quite a lot of information which should be kept private being broadcast in the clear. Information discovered as a result of traffic capture and analysis included users IDs, and of greater concern, the remote console password. While this information may seem trivial, discovery of such information may lead to compromise of the game server, leaving it open to be controlled by someone with malicious intent

Network security isn\u27t all fun and games: An analysis of information transmitted whileplaying Team Fortress 2

In the world of online gaming, information is exchanged as a matter of course. What information is exchanged behind the scenes is something that is not obvious to the casual user. People who play these games trust that the applications they are using are securely written and in this case, communicate securely. This paper looks at the traffic that is transmitted by the game Team Fortress 2 and incidentally the supporting authentication traffic of the Steam network. It was discovered through packet analysis that there is quite a lot of information which should be kept private being broadcast in the clear. Information discovered as a result of traffic capture and analysis included users IDs, and of greater concern, the remote console password. While this information may seem trivial, discovery of such information may lead to compromise of the game server, leaving it open to be controlled by someone with malicious intent

When you can\u27t see the forest for the domains: why a two forest model should be used to achieve logical segregation between SCADA and corporate networks

The increasing convergence of corporate and control systems networks creates new challenges for the security of critical infrastructure. There is no argument that whilst this connection of what was traditionally an isolated network, to a usually internet enabled corporate network, is unavoidable, segregation must be maintained. One such challenge presented is how to properly and appropriately configure an active directory environment to allow for exchange of required data, but still maintain the security goal of separation of the two networks. This paper argues that while separate domains may seem to achieve this goal, the reality is that a domain is not a security boundary, and in fact does not effectively segregate the networks. A more secure and robust barrier can be created through the creation of separate forests, which still allows for one-way trust relationships to be established between the two forests for authentication and data exchange. The paper concludes that there is no loss of functionality or communication through the use of two forests, but there is a loss of security if using one

Investigating the effects of 5.5 mmoL vs 25 mmoL glucose concentration in culture media on LHCN-M2 cell viability, proliferation, metabolism and differentiation

Introduction: In vitro skeletal muscle cell models are vitally important for investigating the molecular mechanisms of skeletal muscle in metabolic and endocrine diseases, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. Culture media for skeletal muscle cells can often contain glucose concentrations (GC) five times higher than what’s considered normal in fasting human plasma, thus is not representative of the in vivo environment. Hyperglycaemia in culture media may negatively impact metabolic function, by creating a model of cell toxicity that’s representative of diseases such as diabetes mellitus. The aim of these experiments was to determine the impact of media containing GC of 5.5 mmol (physiological) vs 25 mmol (supraphysiological) on cell viability, proliferation, ATP production and differentiation in human LHCN-m2 myoblasts.Methods: LHCN-m2 myoblasts were cultured in 5.5 mmol or 25 mmol glucose growth media and cell viability, ATP production, and proliferation were determined. Differentiation of LHCN-m2 myoblasts into multinucleated myotubes was induced by reducing levels of human serum within the culture media and analysed by immunofluorescence following 10 days of differentiation.Results: We observed no differences in the viability, proliferation or basal ATP production rates of LHCN-m2 cells grown in 5.5 mmol compared to 25 mmol glucose (P> 0.05 for all). However cells had a trend of higher ATP production rates and faster proliferation in 5.5 mmol compared to 25 mmol. Fluorescence microscopy revealed the formation of multinucleated myotubes differentiated in 5.5 mmol glucose media containing various concentrations of human serum (0.5%, 1% and 2%).Conclusions: Our data demonstrates the ability to differentiate LHCN-m2 cells in 5.5 mmol GC, which allows our in vitro model to be more physiologically-relevant and more comparable to what is observed in vivo in humans. Further work is required to determine the implications of GC on the wider metabolic function in LHCN-m2 myoblasts

Milk whey protein concentration and mRNA associated with β-lactoglobulin phenotype

Two common genetic variants of β-lactoglobulin (β-lg), A and B, exist as co- dominant alleles in dairy cattle (Aschaffenburg, 1968). Numerous studies have shown that cows homozygous for β-lg A have more β-lg and less α-lactalbumin (α-la) and casein in their milk than cows expressing only the B variant of β-lg (Ng-Kwai-Hang et al. 1987; Graml et al. 1989; Hill, 1993; Hill et al. 1995, 1997). These differences have a significant impact on the processing characteristics of the milk. For instance, the moisture-adjusted yield of Cheddar cheese is up to 10% higher using milk from cows of the β-lg BB phenotype compared with milk from cows expressing only the A variant (Hill et al. 1997). All these studies, however, describe compositional differences associated with β-lg phenotype in established lactation only. No information is available on the first few weeks of lactation, when there are marked changes in the concentrations of β-lg and α-la (Pérez et al. 1990)