Rupert Ward

Auditing file system permissions using association rule mining

Modelling Microsofts New Technology File System permissions for analysis.Using association rule mining to identify irregular file system permissions.Development of a two-stage tool for auditing Microsofts New Technology File System.Accuracy greater than 90% for both real-world and synthetic directory structures. Identifying irregular file system permissions in large, multi-user systems is challenging due to the complexity of gaining structural understanding from large volumes of permission information. This challenge is exacerbated when file systems permissions are allocated in an ad-hoc manner when new access rights are required, and when access rights become redundant as users change job roles or terminate employment. These factors make it challenging to identify what can be classed as an irregular file system permission, as well as identifying if they are irregular and exposing a vulnerability. The current way of finding such irregularities is by performing an exhaustive audit of the permission distribution; however, this requires expert knowledge and a significant amount of time. In this paper a novel method of modelling file system permissions which can be used by association rule mining techniques to identify irregular permissions is presented. This results in the creation of object-centric model as a by-product. This technique is then implemented and tested on Microsofts New Technology File System permissions (NTFS). Empirical observations are derived by making comparisons with expert knowledge to determine the effectiveness of the proposed technique on five diverse real-world directory structures extracted from different organisations. The results demonstrate that the technique is able to correctly identify irregularities with an average accuracy rate of 91%, minimising the reliance on expert knowledge. Experiments are also performed on synthetic directory structures which demonstrate an accuracy rate of 95% when the number of irregular permissions constitutes 1% of the total number. This is a significant contribution as it creates the possibility of identifying vulnerabilities without prior knowledge of how to file systems permissions are implemented within a directory structure.

Cloud Computing Within Higher Education: Applying Knowledge as a Service (KaaS)

The advent of cloud computing in recent years has sparked interest from various institutions, organisations and users who wish to take advantage of its features. Cloud computing provides on-demand computer resources as a service, enabling flexible information technology (IT) usage via scalability and a cost efficient (pay-per-use) approach. As well as traditional cloud computing services (software, platform and infrastructure as services), there is an emerging concept which integrates knowledge organisations and knowledge management. The Knowledge as a service (KaaS) is delivered via knowledge markets within a cloud environment. In this article, the authors present and analyse the KaaS concept together with its advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, after an analysis of eLearning environments in the UK higher education institutions (HEIs), the potential KaaS benefits in the UK HEIs are also presented, demonstrating how KaaS conceptual models from industry could be used in the UK HEIs. The underlying theory behind KaaS is also discussed, with the conclusion highlighting potential opportunities and benefits that KaaS can provide to the UK HEIs.

Analysis of Tinto’s student integration theory in first-year undergraduate computing students of a UK higher education institution

Purpose Retention is one of the key performance indicators in university quality assurance processes. The purpose of this paper is to identify the causes leading to low retention rates for first-year undergraduate computing students in a UK higher education institution (HEI). Design/methodology/approach The study applies Tinto’s student integration theory, and connects it with the behavioural patterns of students. Data were collected from 901 students using Pascarella and Terenzini’s questionnaire (integration scales). This data were combined with student enrolment information and analysed using the structural equation modelling technique. Findings The study results indicate that Tinto’s student integration theory is useful in analysing student retention, but this accounts for only a modest amount of variance in retention. Nevertheless, important relationships amongst student’s initial and later academic goals and commitments have been identified through this new approach to analysing retention. The largest direct effect on retention was accounted for by initial goals and institutional commitments, followed by later goals and institutional commitments. In addition, the results show that academic and social integration constructs can have an influence on the student retention processes. When all, or some, of these relationships are operating towards students’ benefits, appropriate services or programmes, such as student support systems, can have their maximum benefits. Originality/value The authors mapped behavioural-related retention factors using a learning community lens. The study explored students’ social and learning experiences within the context of a UK HEI by employing Tinto’s model. This is the first time the model has been tested in this context.

Social Website Technologies and Their Impact on Society

Web applications have dominated the concerns of most people because they take a lot of their time.

The threshold photoelectron spectrum of mercury

The threshold photoelectron spectrum of mercury has been recorded over the energy range (10–40 eV) which covers the region from the lowest state of the singly charged ion, 5d106s(2S1/2), to the double charged ionic state, 5d9(2D3/2)6s(1D2). Synchrotron radiation has been used in conjunction with the penetrating-field threshold-electron technique to obtain the spectrum with high resolution. The spectrum shows many more features than observed in previous photoemission measurements with many of these assigned to satellite states converging to the double ionization limit.