Relay Selection for Security Enhancement in Cognitive Relay Networks

This letter proposes several relay selection policies for secure communication in cognitive decode-and-forward (DF) relay networks, where a pair of cognitive relays are opportunistically selected for security protection against eavesdropping. The first relay transmits the secrecy information to the destination,
and the second relay, as a friendly jammer, transmits the jamming signal to confound the eavesdropper. We present new exact closed-form expressions for the secrecy outage probability. Our analysis and simulation results strongly support our conclusion that the proposed relay selection policies can enhance the performance of secure cognitive radio. We also confirm that the error floor phenomenon is created in the absence of jamming.

On the Security of Cognitive Radio Networks

Cognitive radio has emerged as an essential recipe for future high-capacity high-coverage multi-tier hierarchical networks. Securing data transmission in these networks is of utmost importance. In this paper, we consider the cognitive wiretap channel and propose multiple antennas to secure the transmission at the physical layer, where the eavesdropper overhears the transmission from the secondary transmitter to the secondary receiver. The secondary receiver and the eavesdropper are equipped with multiple antennas, and passive eavesdropping is considered where the channel state information of the eavesdropper’s channel is not available at the secondary transmitter. We present new closedform expressions for the exact and asymptotic secrecy outage probability. Our results reveal the impact of the primary network on the secondary network in the presence of a multi-antenna wiretap channel.

Securing the smart grid

The availability of electricity is fundamental to modern society. It is at the top of the list of critical infrastructures and its interruption can have severe consequences. This highly important system is now evolving to become more reliable, efficient, and clean. This evolving infrastructure has become known as the smart grid; and these future smart grid systems will rely heavily on ICT. This infrastructure will require many servers and due to the nature of the grid, many of these systems will be geographically diverse requiring communication links. At the heart of this ICT infrastructure will be security. At each level of the smart grid from smart metering right through to remote sensing and control networks, security will be a key factor for system design consideration. With an increased number of ICT systems in place the security risk also increases. In this paper the authors discuss the changing nature of security in relation to the smart grid by looking at the move from legacy systems to more modern smart grid systems. The potential planes of attack for future smart grid systems are identified, and the general anatomy of a cyber-attack is presented. The authors then introduce the various threat levels of different types of attack and the mitigation techniques that could be put in place for each. Finally, the authors' introduce a Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) communication system (operated by the authors) that can be used as a test-bed for some of the proposed future security research.

Laboratizing the border: The production, translation and anticipation of security technologies

This paper critically interrogates how borders are produced by scientists, engineers and security experts in advance of the actual deployment of technical devices they develop. This paper explores the prior stages of translation and decision-making as a socio-technical device is conceived and developed. Drawing on in-depth interviews, observations and ethnographic research of the EU-funded Handhold project (consisting of nine teams in five countries), it explores how assumptions about the way security technologies will and should perform at the border shape the way that scientists, engineers, and security experts develop a portable, integrated device to detect CBRNE threats at borders. In disaggregating the moments of sovereign decision making across multiple sites and times, this paper questions the supposed linearity of how science comes out of and feeds back into the world of border security. An interrogation of competing assumptions and understandings of security threats and needs, of competing logics of innovation and pragmatism, of the demands of differentiated temporalities in detection and interrogation, and of the presumed capacities, behaviours, and needs of phantasmic competitors and end-users reveals a complex, circulating and co-constitutive process of device development that laboratises the border itself. We trace how sovereign decisions are enacted as assemblages in the antecedent register of device development itself through the everyday decisions of researchers in the laboratory, and the material components of the Handhold device itself.

Diversity, extinction, and threat status in Lagomorphs

A quarter of all lagomorphs (pikas, rabbits, hares and jackrabbits) are threatened with extinction, including several genera that contain only one species. The number of species in a genus correlates with extinction risk in lagomorphs, but not in other mammal groups, and this is concerning because the non-random extinction of small clades disproportionately threatens genetic diversity and phylogenetic history. Here, we use phylogenetic analyses to explore the properties of the lagomorph phylogeny and test if variation in evolution, biogeography and ecology between taxa explains current patterns of diversity and extinction risk. Threat status was not related to body size (and, by inference, its biological correlates), and there was no phylogenetic signal in extinction risk. We show that the lagomorph phylogeny has a similar clade-size distribution to other mammals, and found that genus size was unrelated to present climate, topography, or geographic range size. Extinction risk was greater in areas of higher human population density and negatively correlated with anthropogenically modified habitat. Consistent with this, habitat generalists were less likely to be threatened. Our models did not predict threat status accurately for taxa that experience region-specific threats. We suggest that pressure from human populations is so severe and widespread that it overrides ecological, biological, and geographic variation in extant lagomorphs.

Cyber Security Research: a vision for the UK: Finance challenges

Invited talk, representing the Royal Society

Stateful Intrusion Detection for IEC 60870-5-104 SCADA Security

Cyber threats in Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems have the potential to render physical damage and jeopardize power system operation, safety and stability. SCADA systems were originally designed with little consideration of escalating cyber threats and hence the problem of how to develop robust intrusion detection technologies to tailor the requirements of SCADA is an emerging topic and a big challenge. This paper proposes a stateful Intrusion Detection System (IDS) using a Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) method to improve the cyber-security of SCADA systems using the IEC 60870-5-104 protocol which is tailored for basic telecontrol communications. The proposed stateful protocol analysis approach is presented that is designed specifically for the IEC 60870-5-104 protocol. Finally, the novel intrusion detection approach are implemented and validated.

An Ambiguity Aversion Framework of Security Game under Ambiguities

Security is a critical concern around the world. Since resources for security are always limited, lots of interest have arisen in using game theory to handle security resource allocation problems. However, most of the existing work does not address adequately how a defender chooses his optimal strategy in a game with absent, inaccurate, uncertain, and even ambiguous strategy profiles' payoffs. To address this issue, we propose a general framework of security games under ambiguities based on Dempster-Shafer theory and the ambiguity aversion principle of minimax regret. Then, we reveal some properties of this framework. Also, we present two methods to reduce the influence of complete ignorance. Our investigation shows that this new framework is better in handling security resource allocation problems under ambiguities.

A Game-Theoretic Approach for Threats Detection and Intervention in Surveillance

Threat prevention with limited security resources is a challenging problem. An optimal strategy is to eectively predict attackers' targets (or goals) based on current available information, and use such predictions to prevent (or disrupt) their planned attacks. In this paper, we propose a game-theoretic framework to address this challenge which encompasses the following three elements. First, we design a method to analyze an attacker's types in order to determine the most plausible type of an attacker. Second, we propose an approach to predict possible targets of an attack and the course of actions that the attackers may take even when the attackers' types are ambiguous. Third, a game-theoretic based strategy is developed to determine the best protection actions for defenders (security resources).

The European Union funded NEOShield project: A global approach to near-Earth object impact threat mitigation

Although discussions are underway within the Action Team 14 of the United Nations COPUOS, there is currently no concerted international plan addressing the impact threat from near-Earth objects (NEOs) and how to organize, prepare and implement mitigation measures. We report on a new international project to address impact hazard mitigation issues, being the subject of a proposal submitted to the European Commission in response to the 2011 FP7 Call "Prevention of impacts from near-Earth objects on our planet". Our consortium consists of 13 research institutes, universities, and industrial partners from 6 countries and includes leading US and Russian space organizations. The primary aim of the project, NEOShield, is to investigate in detail the three most promising mitigation techniques: the kinetic impactor, blast deflection,and the gravity tractor, and devise feasible demonstration missions. Furthermore, we will investigate options for an international strategy for implementation when an actual impact threat arises. The NEOShield project was formally accepted by the European Commission on 17 November 2011 and funded with a total of 5.8 million Euros for a period of 3.5 years. The kick-off meeting took place at the DLR Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, in January 2012. In this paper we present a brief overview of the planned scope of the project.

The Impact of EU Privacy Legislation on Biometric System Deployment: Protecting citizens but constraining applications

Biometric systems provide a valuable service in helping to identify individuals from their stored personal details. Unfortunately, with the rapidly increasing use of such systems, there is a growing concern about the possible misuse of that information. To counteract the threat, the European Union (EU) has introduced comprehensive legislation that seeks to regulate data collection and help strengthen an individual’s right to privacy. This article looks at the implications of the legislation for biometric system deployment. After an initial consideration of current privacy concerns, it examines what is meant by ‘personal data’ and its protection, in legislation terms. Also covered are issues around the storage of biometric data, including its accuracy, its security, and justification for what is collected. Finally, the privacy issues are illustrated through three biometric use cases: border security, online bank access control and customer profiling in stores.

Implementation Experiences from Smart Grid Security Applications and Outlook on Future Research

Experiences from smart grid cyber-security incidents in the past decade have raised questions on the applicability and effectiveness of security measures and protection mechanisms applied to the grid. In this chapter we focus on the security measures applied under real circumstances in today’s smart grid systems. Beginning from real world example implementations, we first review cyber-security facts that affected the electrical grid, from US blackout incidents, to the Dragonfly cyber-espionage campaign currently focusing on US and European energy firms. Provided a real world setting, we give information related to energy management of a smart grid looking also in the optimization techniques that power control engineers perform into the grid components. We examine the application of various security tools in smart grid systems, such as intrusion detection systems, smart meter authentication and key management using Physical Unclonable Functions, security analytics and resilient control algorithms. Furthermore we present evaluation use cases of security tools applied on smart grid infrastructure test-beds that could be proved important prior to their application in the real grid, describing a smart grid intrusion detection system application and security analytics results. Anticipated experimental results from the use-cases and conclusions about the successful transitions of security measures to real world smart grid operations will be presented at the end of this chapter.

Lack of genetic structure and evidence for long-distance dispersal in ash (Fraxinus excelsior) populations under threat from an emergent fungal pathogen: implications for restorative planting

Genetic analysis on populations of European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) throughout Ireland was carried out to determine the levels and patterns of genetic diversity in naturally seeded trees in ash woodlands and hedgerows, with the aim of informing conservation and replanting strategies in the face of potential loss of trees as a result of ash dieback. Samples from 33 sites across Northern Ireland and three sites in the Republic of Ireland were genotyped for eight nuclear and ten chloroplast microsatellites. Levels of diversity were high (mean A R = 10.53; mean H O = 0.709; mean H E = 0.765) and were similar to those in Great Britain and continental Europe, whilst levels of population genetic differentiation based on nuclear microsatellites were extremely low (Φ ST = 0.0131). Levels of inbreeding (mean F IS = 0.067) were significantly lower than those reported for populations from Great Britain. Fine-scale analysis of seed dispersal indicated potential for dispersal over hundreds of metres. Our results suggest that ash woodlands across Ireland could be treated as a single management unit, and thus native material from anywhere in Ireland could be used as a source for replanting. In addition, high potential for dispersal has implications for recolonization processes post-ash dieback (Chalara fraxinea) infection, and could aid in our assessment of the capacity of ash to shift its range in response to global climate change.