Energy Efficient Security Framework for Wireless Local Area Networks

Wireless networks are susceptible to network attacks due to their inherentvulnerabilities. The radio signal used in wireless transmission canarbitrarily propagate through walls and windows; thus a wireless networkperimeter is not exactly known. This leads them to be more vulnerable toattacks such as eavesdropping, message interception and modifications comparedto wired-line networks. Security services have been used as countermeasures toprevent such attacks, but they are used at the expense of resources that arescarce especially, where wireless devices have a very limited power budget.Hence, there is a need to provide security services that are energy efficient.In this dissertation, we propose an energy efficient security framework. Theframework aims at providing security services that take into account energyconsumption. We suggest three approaches to reduce the energy consumption ofsecurity protocols: replacement of standard security protocol primitives thatconsume high energy while maintaining the same security level, modification ofstandard security protocols appropriately, and a totally new design ofsecurity protocol where energy efficiency is the main focus. From ourobservation and study, we hypothesize that a higher level of energy savings isachievable if security services are provided in an adjustable manner. Wepropose an example tunable security or TuneSec system, which allows areasonably fine-grained security tuning to provide security services at thewireless link level in an adjustable manner.We apply the framework to several standard security protocols in wirelesslocal area networks and also evaluate their energy consumption performance.The first and second methods show improvements of up to 70% and 57% inenergy consumption compared to plain standard security protocols,respectively. The standard protocols can only offer fixed-level securityservices, and the methods applied do not change the security level. The thirdmethod shows further improvement compared to fixed-level security by reducing(about 6% to 40%) the energy consumed. This amount of energy saving can bevaried depending on the configuration and security requirements

CloudMirror: Application-Aware Bandwidth Reservations in the Cloud

Cloud computing providers today do not offer guarantees for the network bandwidth available in the cloud, preventing tenants from running their applications predictably. To provide guarantees, several recent research proposals offer tenants a virtual cluster abstraction, emulating physical networks. Whereas offering dedicated virtual network abstractions is a significant step in the right direction, in this paper we argue that the abstractions exposed to tenants should aim to model tenant application structures rather than aiming to mimic physical network topologies. The fundamental problem in providing users with dedicated network abstractions is that the communication patterns of real applications do not typically resemble the rigid physical network topologies. Thus, the virtual network abstractions often poorly represent the actual communication patterns, resulting in overprovisioned/wasted network resources and underutilized computational resources. We propose a new abstraction for specifying bandwidth guarantees, which is easy to use because it closely follows application models; our abstraction specifies guarantees as a graph between application components. We then propose an algorithm to efficiently deploy this abstraction on physical clusters. Through simulations, we show that our approach is significantly more efficient than prior work for offering bandwidth guarantees.

Application-driven Bandwidth Guarantees in Datacenters

Providing bandwidth guarantees to specific applications is be-coming increasingly important as applications compete for shared cloud network resources. We present CloudMirror, a solution that provides bandwidth guarantees to cloud applications based on a new network abstraction and workload placement algorithm. An effective network abstraction would enable applications to easily and accurately specify their requirements, while simultaneously enabling the infrastructure to provision resources efficiently for deployed applications. Prior research has approached the bandwidth guarantee specification by using abstractions that resemble physical network topologies. We present a contrasting approach of deriving a network abstraction based on application communication structure, called Tenant Application Graph or TAG. CloudMirror also incorporates a new workload place-ment algorithm that efficiently meets bandwidth requirements specified by TAGs while factoring in high availability consider-ations. Extensive simulations using real application traces and datacenter topologies show that CloudMirror can handle 40% more bandwidth demand than the state of the art (e.g., the Ok-topus system), while improving high availability from 20 % to 70%

Naphthoquinone-mediated inhibition of lysine acetyltransferase KAT3B/p300, basis for non-toxic inhibitor synthesis

Hydroxynaphthoquinone-based inhibitors of the lysine acetyltransferase KAT3B (p300), such as plumbagin, are relatively toxic. Here, we report that free thiol reactivity and redox cycling properties greatly contribute to the toxicity of plumbagin. A reactive 3rd position in the naphthoquinone derivatives is essential for thiol reactivity and enhances redox cycling. Using this clue, we synthesized PTK1, harboring a methyl substitution at the 3rd position of plumbagin. This molecule loses its thiol reactivity completely and its redox cycling ability to a lesser extent. Mechanistically, non-competitive, reversible binding of the inhibitor to the lysine acetyltransferase (KAT) domain of p300 is largely responsible for the acetyltransferase inhibition. Remarkably, the modified inhibitor PTK1 was a nearly non-toxic inhibitor of p300. The present report elucidates the mechanism of acetyltransferase activity inhibition by 1,4-naphthoquinones, which involves redox cycling and nucleophilic adduct formation, and it suggests possible routes of synthesis of the non-toxic inhibitor