Saeed Rajput

Trust Management Problem in Distributed Wireless Sensor Networks

Sensor network security solutions that have been proposed so far are mostly built on the assumption of a trusted environment, which is not very realistic so we need trust management before deploying any other security solution. Traditional trust management schemes that have been developed for wired and wireless ad-hoc networks are not suitable for wireless sensor networks because of higher consumption of resources such as memory and power. In this paper, we propose a novel lightweight group based trust management scheme (GTMS) for distributed wireless sensor networks in which the whole group will get a single trust value. Instead of using completely centralized or distributed trust management schemes, GTMS uses hybrid trust management approach that helps in keeping minimum resource utilization at the sensor nodes

Experimental analysis of application-level intrusion detection algorithms

Intrusion Detection System (IDS) plays a very important role on information security. In this paper, we present an application-level intrusion detection algorithm named Graph-based Sequence-Learning Algorithm (GSLA). GSLA includes data pre-processing, normal profile construction and session marking. In GSLA, the normal profile is built through a session-learning method, which is used to determine an anomaly session. We conduct experiments and evaluate the performance of GSLA with other conventional algorithms, such as Markov Chain Model (MM) and K-means Algorithm. The results show that GSLA improves the effectiveness of anomaly detection.

Optimizing performance and energy in computational grids using non-cooperative game theory

There is a lack of generally applicable methods for reducing energy consumption while ensuring good quality of service in distributed computational grids. We study the energy-aware task allocation problem for assigning a set of tasks onto the machines in a grid environment where the conflicting goals of ensuring quality of service and reducing energy consumption makes the machines compete with each other. We propose bidding mechanisms in which the machines have to win in order to maintain a minimum fitness value and thus remain relevant to the system and hence must try their best to meet the goals. The grid manager keeps only those machines that win and eliminate from the pool the ones that are unfit. The proposed algorithm encompasses bidding strategies, fitness calculations, penalties, exit as well as resurrection mechanisms to support a non-cooperative game in which all machines compete to win tasks. The concept of fitness is fundamental to our algorithm, defining a machines ability to remain in the system. When heterogeneous machines are part of a shared computing resource pool governed by a grid economy, the proposed approach fits very well for achieving conflicting goals. By simulating several machines with diverse architectures and task sets with varying requirements, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme and show that it generates short task makespans and reduced energy consumption. The algorithm is extremely fast, takes highly detailed machine and task characteristics into consideration, and outperforms the Earliest Deadline First Scheme in every aspect.

Comparative analysis and design philosophy of next generation unified enterprise application security

Unified enterprise application security is a newly emerging approach for providing protection against application level attacks. Conventional application security approaches that embed security into each critical application results into scattered security mechanism, which is not only difficult to manage but also creates security loopholes. Therefore, new unified enterprise application security concept is evolving in the industry that consists of centralized authentication, access control, incident response and auditing. Industries such as Computer Associate, Cerebit, Entrust, Evidian, IBM Tivoli, Netegrity, Ohlix and SunOne have comes up with the identity and access management solutions that are based on this concept. Significant amount of misunderstanding exists in the industry and research community about appropriate features of such a unified product. Therefore we have proposed new enterprise application security (EAS) comparison framework to compare existing enterprise application security products. This framework helps an enterprise in selecting appropriate application security product. From comparison we found that Computer Associate and Netegrity solutions are the best available solutions, however none of the current available solutions are providing complete enterprise application security. Therefore we have proposed new unified enterprise application security architecture. This architecture provides all basic information security and other critical services such as, auditing, reporting, authentication, access control, confidentiality, integrity, commitment to standards, incident response, scalability. flexibility, manageability, and compliance of regulatory mandates.

Some security issues of wireless systems

Wireless systems have found wide acceptance in many industries such as military and healthcare. These systems appear under a variety of architectures including fixed networks, cellular networks, and ad hoc networks. We survey some security problems, of interest to researchers, in wireless systems when used in these environments. Most studies of the security of these systems emphasize cryptographic aspects, we concentrate on other security aspects, such as operating systems, access control, web services, and location awareness.

State based authentication

Access to systems that need protection is usually restricted by asking the user to prove her identity and to authenticate. Combination of user name and password (or PIN) is the most common technique used for this purpose. Unfortunately, user-name/password based authentication is vulnerable to various types of password guessing attacks. Some techniques of making password guessing very difficult do exist. With these techniques, policies for very strong passwords can be avoided, however, they usually rely on manual intervention by the security administrator to manually reset the passwords. Such manual steps result in significant expense in large enterprises to deal with password issues. Here we present a novel technique that uses a State Based Authentication method to significantly increase the cost of brute-force and dictionary attack on passwords. When deployed, it has the potential to reduce the cost of password helpdesk significantly by eliminating the need of most password-reset requests.

Evaluating mobile phone handoff behavior using chi-square statistical test

Mobile networks reuse frequency bands based on a color map to increase the capacity of the network. A handoff should occur when a mobile unit moves from the influence of one base station with weaker signal into anothers that has stronger signal. Handoff behavior of all units is an important factor in quality of service of a mobile phone service. Handoff decisions, also called mobility decisions, are made by mobile phone based on the observed power from base stations. Premature, delayed or exceedingly sensitive decisions are considered poor decisions. Excessive poor decisions result in degradation of service quality in otherwise a healthy mobile system. Conventional research focuses on improving hand-off algorithms. Most of the published work on verification of effectiveness of handoff algorithms is analytical or focuses on data collected under pristine laboratory conditions. A unit that makes good mobility decisions, theoretically or in the laboratory, may not behave as expected in the real world however. We propose a process of evaluating hand off behavior using large amount of diagnostic phone data collected in the real world that is used for identification of adverse trends or aberrant behavior of various models. In this paper, we discuss a chi-square statistical test to evaluate the performance of specific mobile unit model by comparing the behavior of a test mobile unit against a well- established behavior profile. If the behavior of the test model deviates significantly from the well-established profile, it is considered deficient in its handoff behavior that deserves further analysis. The test was developed in such a way that a large amount of units can quickly be tested. The same test can be used to compare performance of all mobile phones in one region to performance of same mobile phones in other regions. Furthermore, our test is useful in determining difference of handoff behavior when the mobile units are moving in opposite directions.

Mitigating Worm Propagation on Virtual LANs

Recent sophisticated worms have spread faster than the patch distribution. We propose an active defense framework that can defend against widespread by reacting quickly to quarantine infections. We propose deploying a number of detectors in the VLAN network. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we have shown that containment of future epidemics is possible and the probability of containment is a function of number of detectors, and that with our assumptions for worm scanning and infection speed characteristics, less than 2% detectors are enough to bring this probability very close to zero