Kanwalinderjit Kaur Gagneja

Secure communication scheme for wireless sensor networks to maintain anonymity

In wireless sensor networks it is becoming more and more important for sensor nodes to maintain anonymity while communicating data because of security reasons. Anonymous communication among sensor nodes is important, because sensor nodes want to conceal their identities either being a base station or being a source node. Anonymous communication in wireless sensor networks includes numerous important aspects, for instance base station anonymity, communication association anonymity, and source node anonymity. From the literature, we can observe that existing anonymity schemes for wireless sensor networks either cannot realize the complete anonymities, or they are suffering from various overheads such as enormous memory usage, complex computation, and long communications. This paper is presenting an efficient secure anonymity communication protocol (SACP) for wireless sensor networks that can realize complete anonymities offering minimal overheads with respect to storage, computation and communication costs. The given secure anonymity communication protocol is compared with various existing anonymity protocols, and the performance analysis shows that our protocol accomplishes all three anonymities: sender node anonymity, base station anonymity, and communication association anonymity while using little memory, low communication cost, and small computation costs.

Pairwise post deployment key management scheme for heterogeneous sensor networks

This paper presents an identity based pairwise post deployment key establishment scheme for heterogeneous sensor networks. The sensor network has two different types of nodes: the high end nodes and the low end nodes. A unique tree addressing scheme is used where the sensor nodes are allotted a unique ID and the nodes fill their neighbor table. They share the secret key with their neighbors for secure data transmission. The performance evaluation is done by comparing the given scheme with some existing schemes.

Heuristic clustering with secured routing in Heterogeneous Sensor Networks

Heterogeneous Sensor Networks are more powerful and efficient than homogeneous sensor networks. It has been shown that homogeneous sensor networks perform poorly because of routine limits and scalability. In our research, we consider to use heterogeneous topology to securely route data in a wireless sensor network. The given area of interest is initially partitioned into Voronoi clusters, where low-end nodes make clusters with high-end nodes. Each cluster has just one high-end node and a number of low-end nodes. Voronoi clusters are driven by the distance between the nodes, but our routing method the “Improved Tree Routing” uses hop count to route the data in the network. However, Voronoi clusters leave out some gaps in the topology. To cover those gaps we used a new meta-heuristic called Tabu search. With Tabu search we adjust the low-end nodes in the Voronoi clusters using cyclic exchange, pairwise exchange, and single moves. Only a few researchers thought of designing routing techniques with embedded security. In our approach we added security to Improved Tree routing. Through simulation, we show that Voronoi-Tabu clustering technique in conjunction with Secure Improved Tree routing performs better than directed diffusion, and LEACH routing protocols. Additionally, the security technique is performing better than E-G, LEAP, and SBK security methods. Simulation results show that the described method increases throughput, and reduces energy utilization and network delays.

Knowing the ransomware and building defense against it - specific to healthcare institutes

In the healthcare field the patient data is very sensitive. So the hospitals should have some plan to protect it as well. However, in US alone a number of hospitals are attacked by cybercriminals through ransomware malwares to make big bucks. The hospitals should be prepared when given such situation where they have to pay money to get their data back. Now the question arises should they be paying the ransom? In some cases a hospital may not have a choice, if their backup procedure is broken. This paper presents various steps that ransomware follows to encrypt the important files on the victims network, then asks for money and once it receives the money, then releases the data files. The paper also presents various steps those could be followed to protect against such attacks.

Incident Response through Behavioral Science: An Industrial Approach

We can apply psychological methods and behavioral science to understand the practices, techniques, processes, and skillset cyber-criminals are using nowadays for cyberattacks. We can setup honeypots to observe the techniques and methods used for attacks through logs and security settings. However, setting up a honeypot is very expensive and time consuming. So we have to work with our running systems and need to go through the logs and security settings. This way we can build a description of mind set of the cybercriminals behind the cyberattack. This description could be used as a new vector in finding infiltration method. The specific infiltration could signify a tenacious threat or just one time incident. This vector, if applied correctly, could lead to finding threats and risks relatively easily. This vector could also reduce the time required to investigate the incident. Security incident response is centered on detection, response, and resolution of the incident. Once you know the intent behind the incident, incident response becomes much easier.

Pairwise key distribution scheme for two-tier sensor networks

Securing data in wireless sensor networks is very important because of hostile environment. And securing data is quite challenging as well because of limited resources the sensor nodes have. Many security schemes have been proposed for homogeneous sensor networks where all the sensor nodes hold similar capabilities. Recently researchers have shown that heterogeneous sensor networks can perform better than homogeneous sensor network. In this paper, we present a new post-deployment pairwise key distribution scheme for two-tier sensor networks. A special tree structure is used for generating the addresses for the nodes in the network. Polynomial based key generating model is used for generating pair-wise keys to be shared with neighbor nodes. The performance evaluation of our scheme shows that it has fewer security overheads, uses little memory to store the keys, and has smaller computation overhead, and is strongly resilient against the node capture attack, in comparison with other already existing important key management approaches.

Key Management Scheme for Routing in Clustered Heterogeneous Sensor Networks

Adding security using pairwise key establishment in heterogeneous sensor networks is a very challenging task, since sensor networks are usually resource crunched and generally deployed in hostile environments. This paper puts forward an effective and efficient security scheme for launching anonymity in clustered heterogeneous sensor networks. The clustered heterogeneous sensor network has two types of nodes: high end nodes that work as cluster heads and low end nodes. The clusters are formed initially by using Voronoi diagrams and then some node adjustment is done in the clusters using Tabu search. The secure scheme uses a unique technique to conceal its true identity (ID). Once the sensor nodes are deployed, the nodes setup their neighbor table and share their secret key with the neighbors while ensuring that their true identity (ID) is not disclosed and the communication is secured. The empirical performance evaluations support the given approachs efficiency and effectiveness.

Energy efficient approach with integrated key management scheme for wireless sensor networks: c.2.2 [network protocols]

Two-tier topology makes good candidate for making clusters in wireless sensor networks. So we have considered a heterogeneous 2-tier topology to route the data securely among nodes in the sensor network. Initially, after deploying two types of nodes low-end and high-end nodes in the area of interest we divide the given area into clusters. A multilevel approach is used to partition and adjust the nodes in the clusters in a sophisticated manner that the performance of Improved Tree routing is improved. Researchers mainly focus on routing the data efficiently and effectively in the sensor network. Only a few considered integrating security in the design of a routing protocol. We have also made an effort to make Improved Tree routing secure by integrating pairwise key management scheme in it. Through simulations it is shown that given approach performs better than some of the existing protocols.

Preventing Covert Webcam Hacking in the Civilian and Governmental Sectors

This paper looks at both the civilian and governmental sectors to examine covert webcam hacking. By using remote administration tools commonly used by hackers, a specific executable is created and installed on a computer. Another computer then attempts to access the infected computer and utilize its remote access to gain information through the webcam. By going through this process, preventative measures can be examined within the civilian sector. This paper also looks at ways that governmental webcams could be hacked and examines similarities and difference between the governmental and civilian sectors. By looking at difference the governmental sector has with webcams, preventative measures can be altered or created in order to prevent covert webcam hacking.

Mobile health (mHealth) technologies

Globally, mobile health (mHealth) technology could present incredible advantages to the general public, comprising of improved health care system, with less errors, reduced cost, and enhanced patient and healthcare systems commitment. To let mobile health apps and devices be safe and effective it should be regulated that it is designed, and developed properly. Then it should be implemented correctly by using the right algorithms. Once in the market it should be maintained and updated as per the changing needs. Most of all this technology should be used properly so that it poses no risks to patients.