Establishing cyber situational awareness in industrial control systems

The cyber threat to industrial control systems is an acknowledged security issue, but a qualified dataset to quantify the risk remains largely unavailable. Senior executives of facilities that operate these systems face competing requirements for investment budgets, but without an understanding of the nature of the threat cyber security may not be a high priority. Operational managers and cyber incident responders at these facilities face a similarly complex situation. They must plan for the defence of critical systems, often unfamiliar to IT security professionals, from potentially capable, adaptable and covert antagonists who will actively attempt to evade detection. The scope of the challenge requires a coherent, enterprise-level awareness of the threat, such that organisations can assess their operational priorities, plan their defensive posture, and rehearse their responses prior to such an attack. This thesis proposes a novel combination of concepts found in risk assessment, intrusion detection, education, exercising, safety and process models, fused with experiential learning through serious games. It progressively builds a common set of shared mental models across an ICS operation to frame the nature of the adversary and establish enterprise situational awareness that permeates through all levels of teams involved in addressing the threat. This is underpinned by a set of coping strategies that identifies probable targets for advanced threat actors, proactively determining antagonistic courses of actions to derive an appropriate response strategy

Iron-Dithiothreitol Dependent Production of 8-Hydroxy-2\u27-Deoxyguanosine in DNA

Oxidative damage to DNA in a metal-thiol system was studied. Calf thymus DNA was incubated in an iron(IIl)-dithiothreitol system prepared in various buffers. Damage was measured by monitoring the production of 8-hydroxy-2\u27-deoxyguanosine. DNA oxidation was proportional to the concentration of dithiothreitol (DTT) in HEPES and tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (Tris) buffers while it was only roughly related to DTT concentration in sodium chloride. Incubation in potassium phosphate buffer produced no damage. The results indicate that hydroxyl radicals may be generated by the iron-OTT system in HEPES, Tris, and sodium chloride, while in the phosphate buffer an iron phosphate complex may be formed which limits the participation of the iron in the redox cycle

A comparison of thermoelectric phenomena in diverse alloy systems

A study of the preparation and analysis of selected transport properties of several thermoelectric materials is described. These systems include heavily-doped silicon-germanium solid solutions, ternary half-Heusler intermetallic compounds, electrically-conductive oxides, and rare earth chalcogenides. The alloys were prepared by various techniques (mechanical alloying, vapor phase reaction, or arc melting) depending upon such parameters as ductility, volatility, and chemical reactivity of the components. All materials were characterized for phase purity by x-ray diffraction and for chemical purity by various analytical techniques. Transport properties (electrical resistivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal diffusivity) were characterized between 22°C and 1000°C under vacuum conditions. Carrier density and sign were determined at 22°C by a Hall effect measurement. Relationships between transport properties and microstructure were developed for each category of material. The highest dimensionless figure of merit was observed in the (Nd0.5Gd0.5)Se 1.50-x system where x ≈ 0.02 with a magnitude of 1.12 at 800°C due to a nearly glass-like thermal conductivity

Spatial, sectoral and temporal trends in A8 migration to the UK 2004-2011. Evidence from the worker registration scheme

Since the enlargement of the European Union on 1st May 2004, large numbers of migrants from the A8 countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and Estonia) have joined the UK labour market and East-Central Europe has become one of the principal source regions of migrants to Britain. Nationals from these states now constitute some of the largest foreign-born populations in the country. As part of the transitional arrangements following accession, A8 migrants were required to register under the Worker Registration Scheme (WRS) if they took up employment in the UK for one month or longer. The WRS operated between May 2004 and April 2011. The WRS represents a uniquely detailed source of information on East-Central European labour migration to the UK in terms of the employment taken up by A8 migrants immediately after arrival in the UK. The research presented here analysed administrative data from the WRS in order to shed light on spatial, sectoral and temporal trends in registration flows. The findings in this report can help inform understanding of migration patterns, and responses to them, at the national and local government levels.The volume of labour migration flows from East-Central Europe has been substantial, with 1,133,950 registrations recorded over the lifetime of the WRS (May 2004 – April 2011). These flows have been concentrated in particular segments of the labour market, with most A8 migrants engaging with the hospitality and agricultural sectors and often working through recruitment agencies as opposed to directly for employers. The volume of new arrivals from the A8 countries has decreased since the onset of the recession in 2008 but still remained substantial at the end of the WRS period. The demand for migrant labour has been relatively consistent in agriculture compared to other sectors of the economy during the recession, suggesting that employers in this sector may still require overseas workers as they struggle to source labour regardless of prevailing labour market conditions. In other sectors the requirement for overseas workers had receded to a large extent by 2011. Conceptually this points to A8 migrant labour serving distinct ‘functions’ in the UK labour market

Using Gamification to Raise Awareness of Cyber Threats to Critical National Infrastructure

Linked to the SCIPS tabletop gameSenior executives of critical national infrastructure facilities face competing requirements for investment budgets. Whilst the impact of a cyber attack upon such utilities is potentially catastrophic, the risks to continued operations from failing to upgrade ageing infrastructure, or not meeting mandated regulatory regimes, are considered higher given the demonstrable impact of such circumstances. As cyber attacks on critical national infrastructure remain low-frequency events, there is little to motivate business leaders to increase their investment in cyber defences to comparable levels. This paper describes SCIPS, a gamified environment in which senior executives experience the impact of a cyber attack on an electric power generation plant, demonstrating how it can strategically affect shareholder value, and allows them to form their own views on the relative importance of cyber security investment

The reconstructed Indonesian warm pool sea surface temperatures from tree rings and corals: Linkages to Asian monsoon drought and El Niño–Southern Oscillation

[ 1] The west Pacific warm pool is the heat engine for the globe's climate system. Its vast moisture and heat exchange profoundly impact conditions in the tropics and higher latitudes. Here, September - November sea surface temperature (SST) variability is reconstructed for the warm pool region (15 degrees S - 5 degrees N, 110 - 160 degrees E) surrounding Indonesia using annually resolved teak ring width and coral delta O-18 records. The reconstruction dates from A. D. 1782 - 1992 and accounts for 52% of the SST variance over the most replicated period. Significant correlations are found with El Nino - Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and monsoon indices at interannual to decadal frequency bands. Negative reconstructed SST anomalies coincide with major volcanic eruptions, while other noteworthy extremes are at times synchronous with Indian and Indonesian monsoon drought, particularly during major warm ENSO episodes. While the reconstruction adds to the sparse network of proxy reconstructions available for the tropical Indo-Pacific, additional proxies are needed to clarify how warm pool dynamics have interacted with global climate in past centuries to millennia.</p