Tackling the Challenges of Information Security Incident Reporting: A Decentralized Approach

Information security incident under-reporting is unambiguously a business problem, as identified by a variety of sources, such as ENISA (2012), Symantec (2016), Newman (2018) and more. This research project identified the underlying issues that cause this problem and proposed a solution, in the form of an innovative artefact, which confronts a number of these issues. This research project was conducted according to the requirements of the Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM) by Peffers et al (2007). The research question set at the beginning of this research project, probed the feasible formation of an incident reporting solution, which would increase the motivational level of users towards the reporting of incidents, by utilizing the positive features offered by existing solutions, on one hand, but also by providing added value to the users, on the other. The comprehensive literature review chapter set the stage, and identified the reasons for incident underreporting, while also evaluating the existing solutions and determining their advantages and disadvantages. The objectives of the proposed artefact were then set, and the artefact was designed and developed. The output of this development endeavour is “IRDA”, the first decentralized incident reporting application (DApp), built on “Quorum”, a permissioned blockchain implementation of Ethereum. Its effectiveness was demonstrated, when six organizations accepted to use the developed artefact and performed a series of pre-defined actions, in order to confirm the platform’s intended functionality. The platform was also evaluated using Venable et al’s (2012) evaluation framework for DSR projects. This research project contributes to knowledge in various ways. It investigates blockchain and incident reporting, two domains which have not been extensively examined and the available literature is rather limited. Furthermore, it also identifies, compares, and evaluates the conventional, reporting platforms, available, up to date. In line with previous findings (e.g Humphrey, 2017), it also confirms the lack of standard taxonomies for information security incidents. This work also contributes by creating a functional, practical artefact in the blockchain domain, a domain where, according to Taylor et al (2019), most studies are either experimental proposals, or theoretical concepts, with limited practicality in solving real-world problems. Through the evaluation activity, and by conducting a series of non-parametric significance tests, it also suggests that IRDA can potentially increase the motivational level of users towards the reporting of incidents. This thesis describes an original attempt in utilizing the newly emergent blockchain technology, and its inherent characteristics, for addressing those concerns which actively contribute to the business problem. To the best of the researcher’s knowledge, there is currently no other solution offering similar benefits to users/organizations for incident reporting purposes. Through the accomplishment of this project’s pre-set objectives, the developed artefact provides a positive answer to the research question. The artefact, featuring increased anonymity, availability, immutability and transparency levels, as well as an overall lower cost, has the potential to increase the motivational level of organizations towards the reporting of incidents, thus improving the currently dismaying statistics of incident under-reporting. The structure of this document follows the flow of activities described in the DSRM by Peffers et al (2007), while also borrowing some elements out of the nominal structure of an empirical research process, including the literature review chapter, the description of the selected research methodology, as well as the “discussion and conclusion” chapter

Improved classification for compositional data using the α\alpha-transformation

In compositional data analysis an observation is a vector containing non-negative values, only the relative sizes of which are considered to be of interest. Without loss of generality, a compositional vector can be taken to be a vector of proportions that sum to one. Data of this type arise in many areas including geology, archaeology, biology, economics and political science. In this paper we investigate methods for classification of compositional data. Our approach centres on the idea of using the $\alpha$-transformation to transform the data and then to classify the transformed data via regularised discriminant analysis and the k-nearest neighbours algorithm. Using the $\alpha$-transformation generalises two rival approaches in compositional data analysis, one (when $\alpha=1$) that treats the data as though they were Euclidean, ignoring the compositional constraint, and another (when $\alpha=0$) that employs Aitchison's centred log-ratio transformation. A numerical study with several real datasets shows that whether using $\alpha=1$ or $\alpha=0$ gives better classification performance depends on the dataset, and moreover that using an intermediate value of $\alpha$ can sometimes give better performance than using either 1 or 0.Comment: This is a 17-page preprint and has been accepted for publication at the Journal of Classificatio

Post-socialist narratives of being, belonging and becoming: Eastern European women migrants and transformative politics in an era of European crises

This paper draws from an oral history project on ‘Gendered Histories of Resilience and Resistance: Eastern European Women’s Narratives of Mobility and Survival’, which is a narrative ethnography of Albanian, Bulgarian, Romanian and Polish migrant women living in Greece. The paper explores these women’s life stories, memories and experiences, in both their ancestral homelands as well as country of settlement, in order to examine the intersections of gender and identity in how the recollection of socialist pasts informs the understanding of living present and future capitalist lives. The diverse, compelling but also competing accounts of women’s childhood and early adult lives in socialist times in their Eastern European countries of origin is an intriguing way to explore issues of being, belonging and becoming. Discussions on feminism and identity are also revealing as they highlight the discourses and political projects at the intersections of personal experiences with broader socio-cultural and economic fields, in particular as regards the context of migration and the current crisis in Greece

'A window to knowledge is a window to the world': socio-aesthetics, ethics and pedagogic migrant youth journeys in crisis-shaped educational settings in Greece

This paper explores the processes, tensions, opportunities and constraints that migrant youth in Greek higher educational institutions experience at the present time which are characterised by social crises, economic austerity and political instability. In doing so, we also put forward an agenda of critical and feminist pedagogies in developing inclusive spaces of educational citizenship and social justice. Building on a larger collaborative study on youth and migration, this paper draws on a sample of 130 interviews with women and men second generation migrants who are currently, or have been in the past, university students at various institutions in Greece. Migrant youth expanding on their aspirations and capacities harness a developmental pathway of cosmopolitan pedagogies which alter their circumstances and social possibilities. The paper advances alternative discourses in crafting spaces of anti-oppression in the academy through a feminist lens which will cultivate learning communities of equity, justice and reflexivity

Diasporic youth identities of uncertainty and hope: second-generation Albanian experiences of transnational mobility in an era of economic crisis in Greece

This paper explores various dimensions of ‘gender’ and ‘mobility’ among immigrant youth from a transnational perspective in an era of economic crisis. The extent and parameters of continuity, contestation and change in migrant youth identities are analysed and we suggest that neither gender nor identity are stable categories but are embedded in sociocultural particularities both in the country of residence (Greece) but also in the country of origin (Albania). Through in-depth interviews with 52 participants, all second-generation Albanian immigrants in Greece born to two Albanian parents, the paper addresses youth identification in relation to gendered representations of belonging. The narrative accounts that we have selected and analysed reflect the emotional challenges, constraints and creativity of Albanian youth

East European migrant women in Greece: intergenerational cultural knowledge transfer and adaptation in a context of crisis

This paper draws on a larger oral history project entitled ‘Gendered Histories of Resilience and Resistance: Eastern European Women’s Narratives of Mobility and Survival’, a narrative ethnography of Albanian, Bulgarian, Romanian, and Polish immigrant women living in Greece. The paper explores intergenerational cultural knowledge transfer and adaptation in a context of crisis with an analysis contextualised within the current crisis in Greece. We consider here the degree of uncertainty and the emotional challenges and constraints, but consider also the creativity and agency that participants display. Following on from that we aim to unravel the impact of ‘family and cultural values’ on migrants’ everyday lives in the diaspora

Youth mobilities, crisis, and agency in Greece: second generation lives in liminal spaces and austere times

This paper explores various dimensions of “mobility” and “agency” among second-generation immigrants in Greece who have experienced the economic crisis throughout their studies at Higher Education Institutions. Following their studies in Greece, second-generation youth migrants graduated at a time when the crisis had already been leading hundreds of thousands of mostly highly skilled Greeks to emigration, resulting in a severe “brain drain” for Greece. First-generation immigrants’ investment in their children’s education has been vital as an integration strategy and as a means of achieving social mobility. It has also been an asset during crisis times when the prospect of re-migration seems more than a possible option setting new challenges for youth mobility on a local, global, and transnational level. Nevertheless, the vast majority of our participants manifest their will to remain in Greece and struggle for their future in the host country. Through in-depth interviews with 130 participants, all second-generation Albanian, Bulgarian, and Romanian immigrants in Greece, 30 born in the host country and the rest in the country of origin, the paper addresses youth agency in relation to geographical mobility, education, and personal development