The Impact of U3 Devices on Forensic Analysis

Flash and USB portable drives are now in common place use in computing environments. The U3 smart drive is one emerging type of enhanced flash drive. It is believed that U3 smart drive devices do not leave any record or evidence on a host PC after use. Therefore, it is conceivable that it could be used in a digital crime or attack on a computer or networked system. In circumstances where a portable device such as a U3 has been used, it is more complex for a forensic analyst to find evidence of its use. This paper discusses the impact of U3 smart drive devices on a forensic investigation. Further, it describes the forensic investigation undertaken of a computer in which U3 was used

Virtual Environments Support Insider Security Violations

This paper describes an investigation into how an employee using a virtual environment can circumvent any or all of the security, policies and procedures within an organization. The paper discusses the fundamental issues that organizations must address to be able to detect such an attack. Attacks of this nature may be malicious with intent to cause disruption by flooding the network or disabling specific equipment, or non-malicious by quietly gathering critical information such as user names and passwords or a colleague’s internet banking details. Identification of potential residual evidence following an attack is presented. Such evidence may be used to speculate or verify an attack incident occurrence. Additionally, the forensic extraction of any such evidence is discussed. Finally, the paper raises the possibility of a virtual machine being used as an anti-forensic tool to destroy incriminating evidence in such circumstances

Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities in Medical Devices: A Complex Environment and Multifaceted Problem

The increased connectivity to existing computer networks has exposed medical devices to cybersecurity vulnerabilities from which they were previously shielded. For the prevention of cybersecurity incidents, it is important to recognize the complexity of the operational environment as well as to catalog the technical vulnerabilities. Cybersecurity protection is not just a technical issue; it is a richer and more intricate problem to solve. A review of the factors that contribute to such a potentially insecure environment, together with the identification of the vulnerabilities, is important for understanding why these vulnerabilities persist and what the solution space should look like. This multifaceted problem must be viewed from a systemic perspective if adequate protection is to be put in place and patient safety concerns addressed. This requires technical controls, governance, resilience measures, consolidated reporting, context expertise, regulation, and standards. It is evident that a coordinated, proactive approach to address this complex challenge is essential. In the interim, patient safety is under threat

Addressing Pain Points: Thinking Outside the Telehealth Box

In this chapter, we present the synthesis of six pain points relating to Australia’s hospital congestion which is under crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic forced health services to respond rapidly to maintain continuity of care through telehealth. Some of these strategies were anticipated to be short-term arrangements, implemented quickly, and haphazardly deployed. While the health emergency accelerated the adoption of telehealth and models of remote care, this implementation was reactive. It is evident that our hospital systems continue to grapple with the issues of an aging population, expanding demand for mental health services, and escalating costs and too few resources. A shift in philosophy to address these and other recurring pain points presents opportunities to embrace virtual care beyond current implementations of telehealth

Age at first birth in women is genetically associated with increased risk of schizophrenia

Prof. Paunio on PGC:n jäsenPrevious studies have shown an increased risk for mental health problems in children born to both younger and older parents compared to children of average-aged parents. We previously used a novel design to reveal a latent mechanism of genetic association between schizophrenia and age at first birth in women (AFB). Here, we use independent data from the UK Biobank (N = 38,892) to replicate the finding of an association between predicted genetic risk of schizophrenia and AFB in women, and to estimate the genetic correlation between schizophrenia and AFB in women stratified into younger and older groups. We find evidence for an association between predicted genetic risk of schizophrenia and AFB in women (P-value = 1.12E-05), and we show genetic heterogeneity between younger and older AFB groups (P-value = 3.45E-03). The genetic correlation between schizophrenia and AFB in the younger AFB group is -0.16 (SE = 0.04) while that between schizophrenia and AFB in the older AFB group is 0.14 (SE = 0.08). Our results suggest that early, and perhaps also late, age at first birth in women is associated with increased genetic risk for schizophrenia in the UK Biobank sample. These findings contribute new insights into factors contributing to the complex bio-social risk architecture underpinning the association between parental age and offspring mental health.Peer reviewe

Measurement of the top quark mass using events with a single reconstructed top quark in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV

Abstract:A measurement of the top quark mass is performed using a data sample en-riched with single top quark events produced in thetchannel. The study is based on proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1, recorded at√s= 13TeV by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2016. Candidate events are selectedby requiring an isolated high-momentum lepton (muon or electron) and exactly two jets,of which one is identified as originating from a bottom quark. Multivariate discriminantsare designed to separate the signal from the background. Optimized thresholds are placedon the discriminant outputs to obtain an event sample with high signal purity. The topquark mass is found to be172.13+0.76−0.77GeV, where the uncertainty includes both the sta-tistical and systematic components, reaching sub-GeV precision for the first time in thisevent topology. The masses of the top quark and antiquark are also determined separatelyusing the lepton charge in the final state, from which the mass ratio and difference aredetermined to be0.9952+0.0079−0.0104and0.83+1.79−1.35GeV, respectively. The results are consistentwithCPTinvariance

Evaluating the Effects of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Mutation D614G on Transmissibility and Pathogenicity

Global dispersal and increasing frequency of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein variant D614G are suggestive of a selective advantage but may also be due to a random founder effect. We investigate the hypothesis for positive selection of spike D614G in the United Kingdom using more than 25,000 whole genome SARS-CoV-2 sequences. Despite the availability of a large dataset, well represented by both spike 614 variants, not all approaches showed a conclusive signal of positive selection. Population genetic analysis indicates that 614G increases in frequency relative to 614D in a manner consistent with a selective advantage. We do not find any indication that patients infected with the spike 614G variant have higher COVID-19 mortality or clinical severity, but 614G is associated with higher viral load and younger age of patients. Significant differences in growth and size of 614G phylogenetic clusters indicate a need for continued study of this variant

Security and privacy issues for mobile health

Security and privacy have been well established as major considerations in health informatics generally (Rindfleisch 1997). A challenge for healthcare innovation is to embrace the potential of mobile health creatively within the healthcare system and not to merely replicate current technologies into a parallel wireless environment. In addressing this challenge, the complexities of securing health information along a composite clinical information pathway and in each situation of use must be defined

An Australian longitudinal study into remnant data recovered from second-hand memory cards

Consumers demand fast, high capacity, upgradeable memory cards for portable electronic devices, with secure digital (SD) and microSD the most popular. Despite this demand, secure erasure of data is still not a composite part of disposure practices. To investigate the extent of this problem, second-hand memory cards were procured from the Australian eBay site between 2011 and 2015. Digital forensic tools were used to acquire and analyze each memory card to determine the type and quantity of remnant data. This paper presents the results of the 2014 and 2015 studies and compares these findings to the 2011–2013 research studies. The longitudinal comparison indicates resold memory cards are disposed insecurely, with personal, confidential and business data undeleted or easily recoverable. The impact of such discoveries, where information is placed in the public domain, has the potential to cause embarrassment and financial loss to individuals, business, and government organizations