Nathan Shone

Digital Memories Based Mobile User Authentication for IoT

The increasing number of devices within the IoT is raising concerns over the efficiency and exploitability of existing authentication methods. The weaknesses of such methods, in particular passwords, are well documented. Although alternative methods have been proposed, they often rely on users being able to accurately recall complex and often unmemorable information. With the profusion of separate online accounts, this can often be a difficult task. The emerging digital memories concept involves the creation of a repository of memories specific to individuals. We believe this abundance of personal data can be utilised as a form of authentication. In this paper, we propose our digital memories based two-factor authentication mechanism, and also present our promising evaluation results.

Misbehaviour monitoring on system-of-systems components

The unique characteristics of a system-of-systems (SoS) environment pose many significant technical challenges when it comes to monitoring the behaviour of its component systems. In this collaborative environment, component misbehaviour is one of the most significant security threats. A key countermeasure is the ability to detect behaviour that could jeopardise the integrity, availability or functionality of either the composition or its components. However, due to the heterogeneity of the environment, as well as the uncertainty and dynamics of both the structure and function, component system behaviour is highly dynamic and unpredictable. This poses challenges for existing techniques and casts doubt over their reliability and effectiveness. Therefore potentially allowing behavioural threats to evade detection and yielding high false positive rates. In this paper, we will outline the security concerns that misbehaviour poses in terms of both individual components and the SoS as a whole. We will also propose our novel monitoring framework, which is designed to overcome the challenges of monitoring in a SoS environment. This paper also details our implementation and presents some of our initial results.

A Case Study on the Advantages of 3D Walkthroughs over Photo Stitching Techniques

Virtual tours and interactive walkthroughs enable a more in-depth platform for communicating information. Many current techniques employ the use of Photo Stitching to accomplish this. However, over the last decade advancements in computing power and the accessibility of game engines, meant that developing rich 3D content for virtual tours is more possible than ever before. As such, the purpose of this paper is to present a study into the advantages of developing an interactive 3D virtual tour of student facilities, using the Unreal Development 4 Game Engine, for educational establishments. The project aims to demonstrate a comparison between the use of Photo Stitching and 3D Modelled interactive walkthrough for developing rich visual environments. The research reveals that the approach in this paper can improve educational facilities prominence within universities, and contains many advantages over Photo Stitching techniques.

Predicting the Effects of DDoS Attacks on a Network of Critical Infrastructures

Over the last decade, the level of critical infrastructure technology has been steadily transforming in order to keep pace with the growing demand for the services offered. The implementation of the smart grid, which relies on a complex and intelligent level of interconnectivity, is one example of how vital amenity provision is being refined. However, with this change, the risk of threats from the digital domain must be calculated. Superior interconnectivity between infrastructures means that the future cascading impacts of successful cyber-attacks are unknown. One such threat being faced in the digital domain is the Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. A DDoS has the goal of incapacitating a server, network or service, by barraging a target with external data traffic in the form of communication requests. DDoS have the potential to cause a critical infrastructure outage, and the subsequent impact on a network of such infrastructures is yet unknown. In this paper, an approach for assessing the future impacts of a cyber-attack in a network of critical infrastructures is presented, with a focus on DDoS attacks. A simulation of a critical infrastructure network provides data to represent both normal run-time and an attack scenario. Using this dataset, a technique for assessing the future impact of disruptions on integrated critical infrastructure network, is demonstrated.

Developing a Productivity Accelerator Platform to Support UK Businesses in the Industry 4.0 Revolution

The growing Internet of Things (IoT), the increasing use of sensor technology and the digitisation of traditionally isolated analogue devices are transforming manufacturing and private dwellings in the UK. This ongoing revolution is often referred to as Industry 4.0, where real-time data informs the product value chain and digital applications are used for automating service allocation. Within this emerging environment, good practice is essential for productivity. Yet, the access to good practice guides and information is a challenge. Consequently, in this paper, the Productivity Accelerator (ProAccel) platform design is proposed. The system is a modular cloud-based multimedia platform that has the goal of helping UK businesses improve their productivity. ProAccel employs advanced machine learning and gamification techniques to revolutionise the way productivity information is shared.

Secure proximity-based identity pairing using an untrusted signalling service

New protocols such as WebRTC promise seamless in-browser peer-to-peer communications that in theory remove the need for third-party services. In practice, widespread use of Firewalls, NATS and dynamic IP addresses mean that overlay addressing or use of some fixed rendezvous point is still needed. In this paper we describe a proximity-based pairing scheme that uses a signalling service to minimise the trust requirements on the third party, achieving anonymity and avoiding the need for PKI, while still requiring only a simple asymmetric pairing protocol.

Towards Efficient Collaborative Behavioural Monitoring in a System-of-Systems

Collaborative behavioural monitoring (CBM) is becoming an increasingly popular solution used in complex and large-scale systems such as a system-of-systems (SoS). It has the ability to overcome the challenges associated with monitoring behaviour in the distributed, decentralised and dynamic environment of a SoS. However, the effectiveness of this approach depends upon the similarity of structural and operational characteristics of components selected for collaboration. Due to the scale and diversity of a SoS, accurately selecting similar collaborative components is a difficult task. Currently, existing selection methods are ineffective when comprehensively assessing the similarity of components, thus presenting a potential flaw in the use of CBM. In this paper, we propose a method to improve the initial selection process of CBM components. Our method offers a superior level of similarity and benefit comparison, than those offered by existing methods. Our experimental results presented in this paper highlight the increased efficiency, reliability and assured validity of the resultant CBM setups.