Malware Distributed Collection And Pre-classification System Using Honeypot Technology

Malware has become a major threat in the last years due to the ease of spread through the Internet. Malware detection has become difficult with the use of compression, polymorphic methods and techniques to detect and disable security software. Those and other obfuscation techniques pose a problem for detection and classification schemes that analyze malware behavior. In this paper we propose a distributed architecture to improve malware collection using different honeypot technologies to increase the variety of malware collected. We also present a daemon tool developed to grab malware distributed through spam and a pre-classification technique that uses antivirus technology to separate malware in generic classes. © 2009 SPIE.7344Grossman, J., Niedzialkowski, T.C., Hacking Intranet Websites from the Outside - Javascript malware just got a lot more dangerous (2006) Black Hat, , http://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bhusa-06/BH-US-06-Grossman.pdf, USA, Las Vegas, Available atWhitehouse, O., An Analysis of Address Space Layout Randomization on Windows Vista (2007) Symantec Advanced Threat Research, , http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/reference/Address-Space-Layout-Randomization.pdf, White paper available atWhitehouse, O., Analysis of GS Protections in Microsoft Windows Vista (2007) Symantec Advanced Threat Research, , http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/reference/GS-Protections-in-Vista.pdf, White paper available atMcDermott, J., Fox, C., Using abuse cases models for security requirement analysis (1999) Proceedings of the 15th Annual Computer Security Applications Conference, p. 55. , IEEE Computer Society, ISBN:0-7695-0346-2Collection, , http://Nepenthes.carnivore.it, Available at:, Accessed on January 2009Baecher, P., The Nepenthes Platform: An Efficient Approach to Collect Malware (2006) Recent Advances in Intrusion Detection, pp. 165-184. , Springer Berlin, HeidelbergHoneytrap, , http://honeytrap.mwcollect.org, Available at:, Accessed on January 2009Zhuge, J., Holz, T., Han, X., Song, C., Zou, W., Collecting Autonomous Spreading Malware Using Highinteraction Honeypots (2007) Proceedings of 9th International Conference on Information and Communications Security (ICICS'07), , Zhengzhou, China, DecemberProvos, N., Holz, T., (2007) Virtual Honeypots: From Botnet Tracking to Intrusion Detection, , Addison Wesley, ISBN: 0-321-33632-1Seifert, C., Welch, I., Komisarczuk, P., HoneyC - The Low-Interaction Client Honeypot (2007) Proceedings of the 2007 NZCSRCS, , Waikato University, Hamilton, New Zealand, AprilNazario, J., Phoneyc, , http://svn.carnivore.it/browser/phoneyc, Accessed on January 2009Seifert, C., Steenson, R., Holz, T., Yuan, B., Davis, M.A., Know Your Enemy: Malicious Web Servers, , http://www.honeynet.org/papers/mws, Available at:, Accessed on January 2009Spitzner, L., (2002) Honeypots: Tracking Hackers, , Addison Wesley, ISBN: 0-321-10895-1http://www.honeypots-alliance.org.br, Brazilian Honeypots Alliance, Distributed Honeypots Project. Available at:, Accessed on January 200

Presentation and survival of gastric cancer patients at an urban academic safety-net hospital

IntroductionGastric cancer is decreasing nationally but remains pervasive globally. We evaluated our experience with gastric cancer at a safety-net hospital with a substantial immigrant population.MethodsDemographics, pathology, and treatment were analyzed for gastric adenocarcinoma at our institution (2004–2017). Chi-square analyses were performed for dependence of staging on demographics. Survival was evaluated with Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses.ResultsWe identified 249 patients (median age 65 years). Patients were predominantly born outside the USA or Canada (74.3%), non-white (70.7%), and federally insured (71.4%), and presented with late-stage disease (52.2%). Hispanic ethnicity, Central American birthplace, Medicaid insurance, and zip code poverty > 20% were associated with late-stage presentation (all p p p p = 0.018), and H. pylori infection (2.02, p = 0.036).ConclusionHispanic ethnicity, Central American birthplace, Medicaid insurance, and increased neighborhood poverty were associated with late-stage presentation of gastric cancer with poor outcomes. Further study of these populations may lead to screening protocols in order to increase earlier detection and improve survival.</div

Spitzer Observations of the HII Region NGC 2467: An Analysis of Triggered Star Formation

We present new Spitzer Space Telescope observations of the region NGC 2467, and use these observations to determine how the environment of an HII region affects the process of star formation. Our observations comprise IRAC (3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 um) and MIPS (24 um) maps of the region, covering approximately 400 square arcminutes. The images show a region of ionized gas pushing out into the surrounding molecular cloud, powered by an O6V star and two clusters of massive stars in the region. We have identified as candidate Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) 45 sources in NGC 2467 with infrared excesses in at least two mid-infrared colors. We have constructed color-color diagrams of these sources and have quantified their spatial distribution within the region. We find that the YSOs are not randomly distributed in NGC 2467; rather, over 75% of the sources are distributed at the edge of the HII region, along ionization fronts driven by the nearby massive stars. The high fraction of YSOs in NGC 2467 that are found in proximity to gas that has been compressed by ionization fronts supports the hypothesis that a significant fraction of the star formation in NGC 2467 is triggered by the massive stars and the expansion of the HII region. At the current rate of star formation, we estimate at least 25-50% of the total population of YSOs formed by this process.Comment: Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal, set to appear in Volume 701; 18 pages, 13 figures, 4 tables. This version reflects a few major changes made in the accepted version, including new figure

Multifractal Scaling, Geometrical Diversity, and Hierarchical Structure in the Cool Interstellar Medium

Multifractal scaling (MFS) refers to structures that can be described as a collection of interwoven fractal subsets which exhibit power-law spatial scaling behavior with a range of scaling exponents (concentration, or singularity, strengths) and dimensions. The existence of MFS implies an underlying multiplicative (or hierarchical, or cascade) process. Panoramic column density images of several nearby star- forming cloud complexes, constructed from IRAS data and justified in an appendix, are shown to exhibit such multifractal scaling, which we interpret as indirect but quantitative evidence for nested hierarchical structure. The relation between the dimensions of the subsets and their concentration strengths (the "multifractal spectrum'') appears to satisfactorily order the observed regions in terms of the mixture of geometries present: strong point-like concentrations, line- like filaments or fronts, and space-filling diffuse structures. This multifractal spectrum is a global property of the regions studied, and does not rely on any operational definition of "clouds.'' The range of forms of the multifractal spectrum among the regions studied implies that the column density structures do not form a universality class, in contrast to indications for velocity and passive scalar fields in incompressible turbulence, providing another indication that the physics of highly compressible interstellar gas dynamics differs fundamentally from incompressible turbulence. (Abstract truncated)Comment: 27 pages, (LaTeX), 13 figures, 1 table, submitted to Astrophysical Journa

Strategy implementation: what is the failure rate?

It is often claimed that 50–90% of strategic initiatives fail. Although these claims have had a significant impact on management theory and practice, they are controversial. We aim to clarify why this is the case. Towards this end, an extensive review of the literature is presented, assessed, compared and discussed. We conclude that while it is widely acknowledged that the implementation of a new strategy can be a difficult task, the true rate of implementation failure remains to be determined. Most of the estimates presented in the literature are based on evidence that is outdated, fragmentary, fragile or just absent. Careful consideration is advised before using current estimates to justify changes in the theory and practice. A set of guiding principles is presented for assisting researchers to produce better estimates of the rates of failure

The Cognitive Impact of the ANK3 Risk Variant for Bipolar Disorder: Initial Evidence of Selectivity to Signal Detection during Sustained Attention

BACKGROUND: Abnormalities in cognition have been reported in patients with Bipolar Disorder (BD) and their first degree relatives, suggesting that susceptibility genes for BD may impact on cognitive processes. Recent genome-wide genetic studies have reported a strong association with BD in a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) (rs10994336) within ANK3, which codes for Ankyrin 3. This protein is involved in facilitating the propagation of action potentials by regulating the assembly of sodium gated ion channels. Since ANK3 influences the efficiency of transmission of neuronal impulses, allelic variation in this gene may have widespread cognitive effects. Preclinical data suggest that this may principally apply to sequential signal detection, a core process of sustained attention. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: One hundred and eighty-nine individuals of white British descent were genotyped for the ANK3 rs10994336 polymorphism and received diagnostic interviews and comprehensive neurocognitive assessment of their general intellectual ability, memory, decision making, response inhibition and sustained attention. Participants comprised euthymic BD patients (n = 47), their unaffected first-degree relatives (n = 75) and healthy controls (n = 67). The risk allele T was associated with reduced sensitivity in target detection (p = 0.0004) and increased errors of commission (p = 0.0018) during sustained attention regardless of diagnosis. We found no effect of the ANK3 genotype on general intellectual ability, memory, decision making and response inhibition. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results suggest that allelic variation in ANK3 impacts cognitive processes associated with signal detection and this mechanism may relate to risk for BD. However, our results require independent replication and confirmation that ANK3 (rs10994336) is a direct functional variant