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.

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.

Orthogonal Vector Approach for Synthesis of Multi-beam Directional Modulation Transmitters

An orthogonal vector approach is proposed for the synthesis of multi-beam directional modulation (DM) transmitters. These systems have the capability of concurrently projecting independent data streams into different specified spatial directions while simultaneously distorting signal constellations in all other directions. Simulated bit error rate (BER) spatial distributions are presented for various multi-beam system configurations in order to illustrate representative examples of physical layer security performance enhancement that can be achieved.

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

Invited talk, representing the Royal Society

Introducing an obstetric emergency training strategy into a simulated environment

Midwifery educators are challenged to produce registrants who are fit for practice at the point of registration with competence at the heart of this expectation. In addition to achieving expertise in normal pregnancy, it is recognised that students need to have the skills of critical decision making where normal processes become adversely affected.
An evaluation was undertaken with final year direct entry midwifery students using questionnaires and focus group interviews to determine whether simulated learning, such as the Practical Obstetric Multi-Professional Training (PROMPT) package, for emergency obstetric training would enhance self-efficacy and confidence levels in preparation for post-registration practice. The main themes that emerged from the study indicate that this style of learning increased midwifery students’ feelings of self-efficacy; highlighted the importance of a safe learning environment; reduced their anxiety regarding their ability to make decisions in clinical practice and reinforced confidence in their level of knowledge.

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.

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.

Striking a Balance:Christianity and the Challenges of Long-Term Human Security in Zimbabwe

African evangelical/Pentecostal/charismatic (EPC) Christians-previously dismissed by scholars as apolitical-are becoming increasingly active socially and politically. This chapter presents a case study of an EPC congregation in Harare. It demonstrates how the congregation provides short-term human security by responding to the needs of the poor, while at the same time creating space where people can develop the "self-expression values" necessary for long-term human security. The case study also demonstrates that even under authoritarian states, religious actors can actively choose to balance the immediate demands of short-term human security with the sometimes competing demands of long-term human security. Policymakers can benefit from a greater understanding of how religious actors strike this balance and from a greater appreciation of the variability, flexibility, and religious resources of EPC Christians in such contexts.

A Survey of Security in Software Defined Networks

The proposition of increased innovation in network applications and reduced cost for network operators has won over the networking world to the vision of Software-Defined Networking (SDN). With the excitement of holistic visibility across the network and the ability to program network devices, developers have rushed to present a range of new SDN-compliant hardware, software and services. However, amidst this frenzy of activity, one key element has only recently entered the debate: Network Security. In this article, security in SDN is surveyed presenting both the research community and industry advances in this area. The challenges to securing the network from the persistent attacker are discussed and the holistic approach to the security architecture that is required for SDN is described. Future research directions that will be key to providing network security in SDN are identified.

SDN Security: A Survey

The pull of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is magnetic. There are few in the networking community who have escaped its impact. As the benefits of network visibility and network device programmability are discussed, the question could be asked as to who exactly will benefit? Will it be the network operator or will it, in fact, be the network intruder? As SDN devices and systems hit the market, security in SDN must be raised on the agenda. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of the research relating to security in software-defined networking that has been carried out to date. Both the security enhancements to be derived from using the SDN framework and the security challenges introduced by the framework are discussed. By categorizing the existing work, a set of conclusions and proposals for future research directions are presented.

High resolution monitoring of surface morphological change of building limestones in response to simulated salt weathering

A salt weathering simulation using a mix of sodium chloride (5%) and magnesium sulphate (5%) in a salt corrosion cabinet and five granular limestones is described. Progressive surface loss from vertical exposed faces was mapped using a high resolution (sub-millimetre) object scanner (Konica Minolta Vi9i). Patterns of loss are related to surface porosity/permeability measurements obtained using a hand-held gas permeameter. Introduction of this spatial dimension into damage assessment is seen as essential for understanding the initial conditions that allow surface loss to be triggered, and changes in surface characteristics as weathering proceeds which dictate subsequent decay in space and time. Preliminary observations suggest that scanning at this high resolution is particularly valuable in quantifying very subtle trends and distortions that are pre-cursors to material loss, including surface swelling and pore filling.