A critical analysis of security vulnerabilities and countermeasures in a smart ship system

It is timely to raise cyber security awareness while attacks on maritime infrastructure have not yet gained critical momentum. This paper analyses vulnerabilities in existing shipborne systems and a range of measures to protect them. It discusses Information Technology network flaws, describes issues with Industrial Control Systems, and lays out major weaknesses in the Automated Identification System, Electronic Chart Display Information System and Very Small Aperture Terminals. The countermeasures relate to the concept of “Defence-in-depth”, and describe procedural and technical solutions. The maritime sector is interconnected and exposed to cyber threats. Internet satellite connections are feasible and omnipresent on vessels, offshore platforms and even submarines. It enables services that are critical for safety and rescue operations, navigation and communication in a physically remote environment. Remote control of processes and machinery brings benefits for safety and efficiency and commercial pressure drives the development and adaptation of new technologies. These advancements include sensor fusion, augmented reality and artificial intelligence and will lead the way to the paradigm of “smart” shipping. Forecasts suggest unmanned, autonomous ships in international waters by 2035. This paper is the starting point for future research, to help mapping out the risks and protect the maritime community from cyber threats

Impact of feature proportion on matching performance of multi-biometric systems

Biometrics as a tool for information security has been used in various applications. Feature-level fusion is widely used in the design of multi-biometric systems due to its advantages in increasing recognition accuracy and security. However, most existing multi-biometric systems that use feature-level fusion assign each biometric trait an equal proportion when combining features from multiple sources. For example, multi-biometric systems with two biometric traits commonly adopt a 50–50 feature proportion setting, which means that fused feature data contains half elements from each biometric modality. In this paper, we investigate the impact of feature proportion on the matching performance of multi-biometric systems. By using a fingerprint and face based multi-biometric system that applies feature-level fusion, we employ a random projection based transformation and a proportion weight factor. By adjusting this weight factor, we show that allocating unequal proportions to features from different biometric traits yields different matching performance. Our experimental results indicate that optimal performance, achieved with unequal feature proportions, could be better than the performance obtained with the commonly used 50–50 feature proportion. Therefore, the impact of feature proportion, which has been ignored by most existing work, should be taken into account and more study is required as to how to make feature proportion allocation benefit the performance of multi-biometric systems

A comparison of 2D and 3D Delaunay triangulations for fingerprint authentication

The two-dimensional (2D) Delaunay triangulation-based structure, i.e., Delaunay triangle, has been widely used in fingerprint authentication. However, we also notice the existence of three-dimensional (3D) Delaunay triangulation, which has not been extensively explored. Inspired by this, in this paper, the features of both 2D and 3D Delaunay triangulation-based structures are investigated and the findings show that a 3D Delaunay structure, e.g., Delaunay tetrahedron, can provide more feature types and a larger number of elements than a 2D Delaunay structure, which was expected to provide a higher discriminative capability. However, higher discrimination does not necessarily lead to better performance, especially in biometric applications, when biometric uncertainty is unavoidable. Experimental results show that the biometric uncertainty such as missing or spurious minutiae causes more negative influence on the 3D Delaunay triangulation than that on the 2D Delaunay triangulation in three out of four experimental data sets

Muscle activity-driven green-oriented random number generation mechanism to secure WBSN wearable device communications

Wireless body sensor networks (WBSNs) mostly consist of low-cost sensor nodes and implanted devices which generally have extremely limited capability of computations and energy capabilities. Hence, traditional security protocols and privacy enhancing technologies are not applicable to the WBSNs since their computations and cryptographic primitives are normally exceedingly complicated. Nowadays, mobile wearable and wireless muscle-computer interfaces have been integrated with the WBSN sensors for various applications such as rehabilitation, sports, entertainment, and healthcare. In this paper, we propose MGRNG, a novel muscle activity-driven green-oriented random number generation mechanism which uses the human muscle activity as green energy resource to generate random numbers (RNs). The RNs can be used to enhance the privacy of wearable device communications and secure WBSNs for rehabilitation purposes. The method was tested on 10 healthy subjects as well as 5 amputee subjects with 105 segments of simultaneously recorded surface electromyography signals from their forearm muscles. The proposed MGRNG requires only one second to generate a 128-bit RN, which is much more efficient when compared to the electrocardiography-based RN generation algorithms. Experimental results show that the RNs generated from human muscle activity signals can pass the entropy test and the NIST random test and thus can be used to secure the WBSN nodes

Securing wireless implantable medical devices using electrocardiogram signals

Empirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 149-154.1. Introduction -- 2. Literature review : ideas and challenges for securing IMDs -- 3. Fuzzy commitment based key distribution for IMD security -- 4. Key distribution using fuzzy vault primitive for IMD security -- 5. Encryption for IMDs ssing modified one-time pads -- 6. Multiple ECG fiducial-points based binary sequence generation -- 7. Conclusions and future work -- Abbreviations -- Bibliography.Implantable Medical Devices (IMDs), such as pacemakers and cardiac defibrillators, can perform a variety of health monitoring and therapeutic functions. A wireless module has become an intrinsic part of many modern IMDs for parameter configuration and medical data transmission. However, such wireless modules can be manipulated to compromise a patient's safety or privacy by eavesdropping or by sending unauthorized commands. A unique challenge in this scenario is that doctors who are not pre-authorized need to have access to the IMDs in an emergency situation.In this thesis, we study the use of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals for securing the IMDs. Blood circulation system in the body is regarded as an inborn secure channel to transmit ECG signals to the IMD and to its external programmer simultaneously. Measurements extracted from the ECG signal, e.g., inter-pulse intervals (IPIs) and random binary sequences (BSes), are used for security purposes. In an emergency situation, doctors can gain access to the IMDs by measuring the patient's real-time ECG signal. However, adversaries cannot achieve this as long as they do not have any physical contact with the patient.We design two ECG-based key distribution schemes based on a fuzzy commitment primitive and a fuzzy vault primitive, respectively. Using the schemes, doctors can obtain a symmetric key by measuring the patient's real-time ECG signal. We also compare these two schemes from different perspectives and discuss their advantages and disadvantages.In order to provide information-theoretically unbreakable encryption for the IMDs, we design an ECG based Data Encryption (EDE) scheme. This scheme combines two well-known techniques of classic One-Time Pads (OTPs) and error correcting codes. Meanwhile, in order to improve the effciency of the BS generation, we develop an ECG Multiple Fiducial-points based Binary Sequence Generation (MFBSG) algorithm. Existing methods solely rely on ECG IPIs to produce BSes and hence introduce unacceptable levels of latency. On the other hand, the proposed algorithm uses five distinct feature values from one heartbeat cycle. By doing this, the time required to generate a BS is reduced, and we achieve the key design goal of low-latency. In conclusion, this thesis explores the use of ECG signals for securing the IMDs. The proposed ECG-based schemes can solve the unique challenge prevalent in this environment.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (xxii, 164 pages) colour illustration

Impact of feature proportion on matching performance of multi-biometric systems

Biometrics as a tool for information security has been used in various applications. Feature-level fusion is widely used in the design of multi-biometric systems due to its advantages in increasing recognition accuracy and security. However, most existing multi-biometric systems that use feature-level fusion assign each biometric trait an equal proportion when combining features from multiple sources. For example, multi-biometric systems with two biometric traits commonly adopt a 50–50 feature proportion setting, which means that fused feature data contains half elements from each biometric modality. In this paper, we investigate the impact of feature proportion on the matching performance of multi-biometric systems. By using a fingerprint and face based multi-biometric system that applies feature-level fusion, we employ a random projection based transformation and a proportion weight factor. By adjusting this weight factor, we show that allocating unequal proportions to features from different biometric traits yields different matching performance. Our experimental results indicate that optimal performance, achieved with unequal feature proportions, could be better than the performance obtained with the commonly used 50–50 feature proportion. Therefore, the impact of feature proportion, which has been ignored by most existing work, should be taken into account and more study is required as to how to make feature proportion allocation benefit the performance of multi-biometric systems. Keywords: Fingerprint, Face, Feature proportion, Matching, Multi-biometric syste

A Non-key based security scheme supporting emergency treatment of wireless implants

The security of wireless communication module for Implantable Medical Devices (IMDs) poses a unique challenge that doctors in any qualified hospital should have the access to the IMDs for an emergency treatment while the IMD should be protected from adversaries during a patient's daily life. In this paper, we present a non-key based security scheme for the emergency treatment of IMDs, named the BodyDouble. This scheme employs an external authentication proxy embedded in a gateway to authenticate the identity of a programmer. The gateway here employs a transmitting antenna to send data and jamming signals. When an adversary launches attacks, the gateway jams the request signal to the IMD and authenticates its identity. The gateway will also pretend to be the wireless module of the IMD by establishing a communication link with the adversary so that the adversary is spoofed to communicate with the gateway instead of the IMD. For the emergency situation, the IMD can be accessed without using any cryptographic keys by simply powering off or removing the gateway. Simulation results show that this security scheme can protect the IMD from the adversary's attacks successfully, and resist the potential repeated attacks to prevent the battery depletion of the IMD.6 page(s