Defesa por ataque: simulando ataques para promover fortes políticas de segurança organizacional

Cyber crime is continuously growing in current times due to the constant digitization of everyday activities. Recently, after the world was hit with the COVID-19 pandemic, this effect was even more noticeable. With more digital activity, cyber crime has a tendency to also increase. The simulation of adversaries as a testing tool is one of the most important instruments when evaluating an organization’s security. Penetration tests are not enough, as attackers resort to many other methods such as social engineering and its techniques (phishing, impersonation, tailgating, etc.). By simulating a full scale attack with minimal restrictions, "red teaming" is introduced. There was an attempt to perform a red team assessment to the University of Aveiro in order to evaluate, test and improve the security policies of the organization. However, due to legal and bureaucratic restrictions related mostly to data protection policies and other privacy measures, the plan was cut short to merely the planning of the red team. The TIBER-EU Framework was also introduced, representing the state of the art guidelines to red teaming in Europe. This framework was followed during the planning of the assessment, which allowed me, the author of this thesis and also the emulated red team, to find a couple of flaws in the University’s security by executing brief threat intelligence analysis sessions.O cibercrime está continuamente a crescer nos tempos atuais devido à constante digitalização das atividades do quotidiano. Recentemente, após a pandemia de COVID-19 ter atingido o planeta, este efeito foi ainda mais acentuado. Com mais atividade digital, o cibercrime tem também uma tendência a aumentar. A simulação de adversário como ferramenta de testagem é um dos instrumentos mais importantes quando se avalia a segurança de uma organização. Testes de intrusão não são suficientes, pois os atacantes recorrem a muitos outros métodos como à engenharia social e às respetivas técnicas (phishing, personificação, tailgating, etc.). O conceito "red teaming" é introduzido através da simulação de um ataque de larga escala com restrições mínimas. Nesta dissertação houve uma tentativa de executar um teste de red team à Universidade de Aveiro com o objetivo de avaliar, testar e melhorar as políticas de segurança da organização. No entanto, devido a restrições legais e bureocráticas relacionadas maioritariamente com políticas de proteção de dados e outras medidas a favor da privacidade, o plano inicial ficou apenas pelo planeamento de um teste red team. O TIBER-EU Framework foi também introduzido, contendo as normas consideradas como estado da arte no que toca a red teaming na Europa. Estas diretrizes foram seguidas durante o planeamento do teste, o que me permitiu, como autor da dissertação e único membro da red team simulada, encontrar algumas falhas de segurança na Universidade através de breves sessões de análise de threat intelligence.Mestrado em Ciberseguranç

LGMD based neural network for automatic collision detection

Real-time collision detection in dynamic scenarios is a hard task if the algorithms used are based on conventional techniques of computer vision, since these are computationally complex and, consequently, time-consuming. On the other hand, bio-inspired visual sensors are suitable candidates for mobile robot navigation in unknown environments, due to their computational simplicity. The Lobula Giant Movement Detector (LGMD) neuron, located in the locust optic lobe, responds selectively to approaching objects. This neuron has been used to develop bio-inspired neural networks for collision avoidance. In this work, we propose a new LGMD model based on two previous models, in order to improve over them by incorporating other algorithms. To assess the real-time properties of the proposed model, it was applied to a real robot. Results shown that the LGMD neuron model can robustly support collision avoidance in complex visual scenarios.(undefined

Timed trajectory generation combined with an Extended Kalman Filter for a vision-based autonomous mobile robot

Series : Advances in intelligent systems and computing, vol. 193, ISSN 2194-5357Planning collision-free trajectories requires the combination of generation and modulation techniques. This is especially important if temporal stabilization of the generated trajectories is considered. Temporal stabilization means to conform to the planned movement time, in spite of environmental conditions or perturbations. This timing problem has not been addressed in most current robotic systems, and it is critical in several robotic tasks such as sequentially structured actions or human-robot interaction. This work focuses on generating trajectories for a mobile robot, whose goal is to reach a target within a constant time, independently of the world complexity. Trajectories are generated by nonlinear dynamical systems. Herein, we extend our previous work by including an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) to estimate the target location relative to the robot. A simulated hospital environment and a Pioneer 3-AT robot are used to demonstrate the robustness and reliability of the proposed approach in cluttered, dynamic and uncontrolled scenarios. Multiple experiments confirm that the inclusion of the EKF preserves the timing properties of the overall architecture.Work supported by the Portuguese Science Foundation (grant PTDC/EEA-CRO/100655/2008), and by project FCT PEst-OE/EEI/LA0009/2011. Jorge B. Silva is supported by PhD Grant SFRH/BD/68805/2010, granted by the Portuguese Science Foundation

Developing a timed navigation architecture for hospital delivery robots

In hospitals, typical tasks of delivering goods between different locations are usually done by auxiliary staff. With the development of robotic technologies, such tasks can be performed by mobile robots releasing the staff effort to other tasks. In order to successfully complete the tasks of delivering goods inside hospitals, mobile robots should be able to generate trajectories free of collisions. In addition, including timing constraints to the generated trajectories has not been addressed in most current robotic systems, and it is critical in robotic tasks as human-robot interaction. Including timing constraints means to obey to the planned movement time, despite diversified environmental conditions or perturbations. In this paper we aim to develop a navigation architecture with timing constraints based on a mesh of nonlinear dynamical systems and feedthrough maps for wheeled mobile robots. A simulated hospital environment and a wheeled robot pioneer 3-DX are used to demonstrate the robustness and reliability of the proposed architecture in cluttered, dynamic and uncontrolled hospital scenarios

Generating trajectories with temporal constraints for an autonomous robot

Trajectory modulation and generation are two fundamental issues in the path planning problem in autonomous robotics, specially considering temporal stabilization of the generated movements. This is a very critical issue in several robotic tasks including: catching, hitting, and human-robot scenarios. In this work, we address these problems and focus on generating movement for a mobile robot, whose goal is to reach a target within a constant time. We use an Hopf oscillator whose solution controls velocity, adapted according to temporal feedback. We have also proposed an adaptive mechanism for frequency modulation of the velocity profile that enables setting different times for acceleration and deceleration. This approach is demonstrated on a DRK8000 mobile robot in order to confirm the system’s reliability with low-level sensors.(undefined

Timed trajectory generation for a toy-like wheeled robot

In this work, we address temporal stabilization of generated movements in autonomous robotics. We focus on generating movement for a mobile robot, that must reach a target location within a constant time. Target location is online calculated by using the robot visual system, such that action is steered by the sensory information. This is a very critical issue in several robotic tasks including: catching, hitting, and humanrobot scenarios. Robot velocity is controlled through an Hopf oscillator, adapted according to temporal feedback. Timing of the velocity profile is modulated according to an adaptive mechanism that enables setting different times for acceleration and deceleration. Results on a DRK8000 mobile robot confirm the system’s reliability with low-level sensors

Generating timed trajectories foran autonomous robot

Tese de Doutoramento Programa Doutoral em Engenharia Electrónica e ComputadoresThe inclusion of timed movements in control architectures for mobile navigation has received an increasing attention over the last years. Timed movements allow modulat- ing the behavior of the mobile robot according to the elapsed time, such that the robot reaches a goal location within a specified time constraint. If the robot takes longer than expected to reach the goal location, its linear velocity is increased for compen- sating the delay. Timed movements are also relevant when sequences of missions are considered. The robot should follow the predefined time schedule, so that the next mission is initiated without delay. The performance of the architecture that controls the robot can be validated through simulations and field experiments. However, ex- perimental tests do not cover all the possible solutions. These should be guided by a stability analysis, which might provide directions to improve the architecture design in cases of inadequate performance of the architecture. This thesis aims at developing a navigation architecture and its stability analysis based on the Contraction Theory. The architecture is based on nonlinear dynamical systems and must guide a mobile robot, such that it reaches a goal location within a time constraint while avoiding unexpected obstacles in a cluttered and dynamic real environment. The stability analysis based on the Contraction Theory might provide conditions to the dynamical systems parameters, such that the dynamical systems are designed as contracting, ensuring the global exponential stability of the architecture. Furthermore, Contraction Theory provides solutions to analyze the success of the mis- sion as a stability problem. This provides formal results that evaluate the performance of the architecture, allowing the comparison to other navigation architectures. To verify the ability of the architecture to guide the mobile robot, several experi- mental tests were conducted. The obtained results show that the proposed architecture is able to drive mobile robots with timed movements in indoor environments for large distances without human intervention. Furthermore, the results show that the Con- traction Theory is an important tool to design stable control architectures and to analyze the success of the robotic missions as a stability problem.A inclusão de movimentos temporizados em arquitecturas de controlo para navegação móvel tem aumentado ao longo dos últimos anos. Movimentos temporizados permitem modular o comportamento do robô de tal forma que ele chegue ao seu destino dentro de um tempo especificado. Se o robô se atrasar, a sua velocidade linear deve ser aumen- tada para compensar o atraso. Estes movimentos são também importantes quando se consideram sequências de missões. O robô deve seguir o escalonamento da sequência, de tal forma que a próxima missão seja iniciada sem atraso. O desempenho da arqui- tectura pode ser validado através de simulações e experiências reais. Contudo, testes experimentais não cobrem todas as possíveis soluções. Estes devem ser conduzidos por uma análise de estabilidade, que pode fornecer direcções para melhorar o desempenho da arquitectura. O objectivo desta tese é desenvolver uma arquitectura de navegação e analisar a sua estabilidade através da teoria da Contracção. A arquitectura é baseada em sistemas dinâmicos não lineares e deve controlar o robô móvel num ambiente real, desordenado e dinâmico, de tal modo que ele chegue à posição alvo dentro de uma restrição de tempo especificada. A análise de estabilidade baseada na teoria da Contracção pode fornecer condições aos parâmetros dos sistemas dinâmicos de modo a desenha-los como contracções, e assim garantir a estabilidade exponencial global da arquitectura. Esta teoria fornece ainda soluções interessantes para analisar o sucesso da missão como um problema de estabilidade. Isto providencia resultados formais que avaliam o desem- penho da arquitectura e permitem a comparação com outras arquitecturas. Para verificar a habilidade da arquitectura em controlar o robô móvel, foram con- duzidos vários testes experimentais. Os resultados obtidos mostram que a arquitectura proposta é capaz de controlar robôs móveis com movimentos temporizados em ambi- entes interiores durante grandes distâncias e sem intervenção humana. Além disso, os resultados mostram que a teoria da Contracção é uma ferramenta importante para desenhar arquitecturas de controlo estáveis e para analisar o sucesso das missões efec- tuadas pelo robô como um problema de estabilidade.Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT) SFRH/BD/68805/2010

Effect of wood aging on wine mineral composition and 87Sr/86Sr isotopic ratio

The evolution of mineral composition and wine strontium isotopic ratio 87Sr/86Sr (Sr IR) during wood aging were investigated. A red wine was aged in stainless steel tanks with French oak staves (Quercus sessiliflora Salisb.), with three industrial scale replicates. Sampling was carried out after 30, 60, and 90 days of aging, and the wines were evaluated in terms of general analysis, phenolic composition, total polysaccharides, multielement composition, and Sr IR. Li, Be, Mg, Al, Sc, Ti, V, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ge, As, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Mo, Sb, Cs, Ba, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Dy, Ho, Er, Yb, Lu, Tl, and Pb elements and 87Sr/86Sr were determined by quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (Q-ICP-MS) and Na, K, Ca, and Fe by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). Two-way ANOVA was applied to assess wood aging and time effect on Sr IR and mineral composition. Wood aging resulted in significantly higher concentrations of Mg, V, Co, Ni, and Sr. At the end of the aging period, wine exhibited statistically identical Sr IR compared to control. Study suggests that wood aging does not affect 87Sr/86Sr, not precluding the use of this parameter for wine traceability purposesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

As medidas universais como estratégia promotora da inclusão e do sucesso escolar

Ao longo das últimas décadas, a multiplicação de políticas de inclusão e o alargamento dos conceitos e das práticas em que estes se baseiam continuam a ser amplamente impulsionadas pelas diferentes organizações nacionais e internacionais e pelas políticas educativas dos diferentes governos com sucessivas alterações à legislação. Com o Decreto-Lei n.o 54/2018, a mudança de paradigma é clara. Não se pretende somente promover a inclusão de todos os alunos na escola, mas sim reorganizar a escola para poder promover uma educação inclusiva, de qualidade e com a colaboração de todos e para todos. Sabemos que as mudanças no terreno, nas escolas, não ocorrem apenas por decreto. Deste modo, através deste trabalho quisemos aprofundar a eventual discrepância entre a perspetiva preconizada no decreto e o modo como essas mudanças são percecionadas na escola e conhecer, perante as atuais dificuldades de aprendizagem dos alunos, as medidas universais mais recorrentemente aplicadas, pelos docentes, com vista à participação e à melhoria das aprendizagens e se estas permitem ou não a inclusão e o sucesso dos alunos. A metodologia escolhida para a investigação foi qualitativa – estudo de caso. Os instrumentos de recolha de dados foram a análise documental aos Planos de Acompanhamento Pedagógico Individual e entrevistas em focus group. A análise dos resultados obtidos permite-nos dizer que os professores se encontram sensibilizados para as vantagens de uma escola mais inclusiva e consideram-na vantajosa, tanto para os alunos com dificuldades de aprendizagem como para os alunos sem dificuldades. Os participantes neste estudo referem que aplicam medidas de suporte à aprendizagem e à inclusão na sua prática, das quais podemos destacar: a diferenciação pedagógica e as acomodações curriculares. Assim, podemos concluir que, com a implementação do Decreto-Lei n.o 54/2018, o foco das respostas educativas que visam colmatar as dificuldades e não categorizar os alunos está cada vez mais presente na escola e nos professores, contribuindo para a inclusão e o sucesso dos discentes. O papel do professor tornou-se ainda mais fulcral no processo de ensino/aprendizagem, uma vez que passou a privilegiar-se a sua autonomia e o seu poder de decisão relativamente aos alunos e às práticas educativas que adota em sala de aula.Over the last few decades, the multiplication of inclusion policies and the broadening of the concepts and practices on which they are based continue to be largely driven by different national and international organizations and by different governments with successive amendments to legislation. With Decree-Law No. 54/2018, the paradigm shift is clear. The intention is not only to promote the inclusion of all students in the school, but rather to reorganize the school in order to promote an inclusive, quality education with the collaboration of everyone and for everyone. We know that changes on the ground, in schools, do not just happen by decree. Therefore, through this work, we wanted to deepen the possible discrepancy between the perspective advocated in the decree and the way these changes are perceived in the school and to know, given the current learning difficulties of students, the universal measures most recurrently applied by teachers, with view the participation and improvement of learning and whether or not these allow the inclusion and success of students. The methodology chosen for the investigation was qualitative – case study. The data collection instruments were document analysis of Individual Pedagogical Monitoring Plans and focus group interviews. The analysis of the results obtained allows us to say that teachers are aware of the advantages of a more inclusive school and consider it advantageous, both for students with learning difficulties and for students without difficulties. Participants in this study report that they apply measures to support learning and inclusion in their practice, from which we can highlight the pedagogical differentiation and curricular accommodations. This way, we can conclude that, with the implementation of this diploma, Decree-Law No. 54/2018, the focus of educational responses that aim to overcome the difficulties and not categorize students is increasingly present in schools and teachers, contributing for the inclusion and success of students, however, it will have to be a path that must continue to be followed. The teacher's role has become even more central in the teaching/learning process, as its autonomy and decision-making power regarding students and the educational practices they adopt in the classroom are now privileged